The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno
by Eowlin315
Summary: This is my first fanfic so bear with me. It's about a new character of my own creation in Naruto. Note: I prefer Sasuke, but I'm trying to have the characters retain their personalities and let's just say he's not easy to get close to. [COMPLETE]
1. Humble Beginnings

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno

Hi, my name is Tsara Shikamuno as you can clearly see by the title. I'm 13 years old and I usually wear jeans and a T-shirt, but I'm a little different from most kids. I have fox ears and a tail to match, plus my eyes are emerald green with icy blue hair. I've been living in a tent just outside of the Village Hidden in the Leaves for almost a month now, and tomorrow is my first day at the ninja academy.

When I first got to the academy I was pretty scared, but then a kid in an orange jumpsuit with blonde hair came up to me and shouted happily "Hi, my name's Naruto, you must be new, wanna be friends! Huh, huh, huh!" I was taken aback at this but before I could recover he started dragging me into the school. When I re-gathered my wits I told him I still needed to turn in my registration forms, so he immediately changed directions to take me to the main office. Once that was over, Naruto started dragging me again and he took me to the classroom. He then shoved me into the teacher shouting, "Here Iruka sensei, it's our new student!"

I yelled at him at the same time Iruka sensei did, causing him to look at me and smile lightly saying "Welcome to the academy, so what's your name?"

"Uh, Tsara Shikamuno, and umm, thanks."

"Okay students this is Tsara Shikamuno, I expect you all to treat her kindly since it's her first day. Tsara you can sit next to Sasuke." Just then I heard all the girls in the class groan. Silently, I wondered "Oh no, is this Mr. Popularity at this school. Great just great, all the girls in the school now hate me. What else could go wrong?"

The rest of the class went without a hitch but at one point I heard some of the girls whisper to each other "What a freak, look at those ears."

"I know, I heard she just moved here because she killed someone for making fun of her."

"Wow, that's scary. Oh no, she can hear us! Shut up or she'll kill the both of us."

I couldn't believe rumors spread before people even had a chance to actually talk. After a few more minutes, the lunch bell rang, and Naruto bolted over to ask me if I would want to eat lunch with him. I agreed and once again he dragged me, but this time outside to a giant oak tree. We both got out our lunches and started to eat and talk.

He questioned, "So, how's your first day going Tsara?"

"It's okay but it still could be better," I sighed.

"Why, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, really, the first day's always the roughest. I'll be fine tomorrow."

"Okey, dokey."

As we ate a couple people came over and talked with us. Some girls even threatened me to stay away from their boyfriends, even though I knew they weren't going out with the boy they were talking about since half of the girls said the same guy, "Stay away from my Sasuke!" is what most of the girls said. Naruto and I burst out laughing after each girl said this. One girl came and sat with us for most of the period of lunch. Her name was Hinata and she wore a gray jacket with short hair and her eyes were grayish. She sat down next to Naruto and started blushing and talking very quietly.

"Akamaru! No!" Just then a little white dog jumped up and started to lick my face. "Sorry 'bout that," a boy with black hair and a gray jacket said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, and don't worry about it, I like dogs," I replied.

"That's good. By the way my name is Kiba and that's Akamaru."

"Yeah, I noticed when you shouted at him."

"Yeah, I guess you did. Well, see ya later."

Sasuke, the boy I was sitting next to, was the last to come over, his hair was navy blue and he wore a blue shirt with a red and white symbol on his back with white pants. All he did was sit down in silence and start eating.

When the day finally ended, Naruto made sure I didn't get lost on my way home, but I couldn't let him know I lived in a tent. Still, he came along with me for a walk through the village. On the way we stopped to talk to a girl with pink hair and a red and white dress. I found out her name was Sakura, and she walked a while with me and Naruto, but after some time she got mad at Naruto and ran off.

Eventually, I left Naruto to go home to my tent in the woods. Someone was following me but I didn't notice because I was thinking of the great day I just had. Once I reached my tent, I finally realized that I had been followed. Turning around I saw it was Naruto with an accomplished look on his face.

"No wonder you didn't want me to walk you home!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah." I whispered.

"Why do you live out here?" he asked.

"No reason in particular."

"Don't you have any family that you could live with?"

"I do, but I don't like living with them."

"Hah, so you do have a reason to live out here!" he shouted with glee. "You know, if you don't like it out here, I have an empty room at my house."

"I'll think about it then."

"Okay, well I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow!"

"I guess, and Naruto…"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem," he said as he smiled sweetly.


	2. Squads

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 2

Hi again. Sorry. I'm not much of an intro person, so let's just get on with the story. (This'll be my last intro for this series.)

As I walked to school, I thought gratefully about how Naruto offered me a room in his home. "Hey Naruto, got a sec?"

"Yeah, what's up Tsara?"

"I've decided to take you up on your offer. It's still an offer, right"

"Yeah, but I don't have any furniture for that room."

"Well, that's okay I can use my sleeping bag until I get some furniture. Besides I've been sleeping on the ground for almost a month now."

"Okay. I'll walk you home today." Just then the bell for classes start rang.

"Okay class today I'm going to put all of you into your squads, so listen closely… Squad seven, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Tsara, led by Kakashi sensei… You have the rest of the day off to get with your squads and talk to your sensei's.

"He's late," Sakura yelled after we had been waiting for over an hour.

"…" Sasuke breathed.

"Hey, I got an idea!" Naruto shouted happily.

"And what _is_ your idea?" I asked hesitantly.

"Just watch you'll see!" He sang as he ran over to get a chair and one of the erasers from the board. Naruto then stood on the chair and put the eraser in the door.

"He's a highly trained ninja, Naruto. I don't think he'll fall for th…" Sasuke was cut off as Kakashi poked his head through the door, getting hit square on the head by the eraser Naruto carefully put up.

"Sorry I'm late," He said while brushing the chalk dust from his already white hair.

"Oh no, Kakashi sensei are you alright?" Sakura cooed even though I could see she was glad he was hit. As I looked around I saw Sasuke's stunned look at the fact that this was our teacher.

Kakashi took us up to the roof and told us to talk about ourselves, "What you like, what you don't like, dreams for the future, that kind of stuff."

"Umm, Kakashi sensei maybe you should start so we get the idea of how to do it."

"Okay, let's see. I like tons of things; I don't like some things, and dreams for the future, well I don't feel like telling you guys. So, Naruto tell us about yourself."

"Well, I like ramen, but I don't like the three minute wait when cooking ramen. My dream for the future is to become the hokage so everyone will have to look up to me."

"How about you Sakura?"

"I don't like Naruto, I like…" she giggled and looked at Sasuke, "And my dream for the future is…" again she looked at Sasuke and giggled, but this time she was blushing.

"Ah, I see. Next, Sasuke."

"I don't like anything and my dream for the future is… to destroy a certain someone." After Sasuke said this there was silence until Kakashi called on me.

"Oh, umm, I like most animals and manga; I don't like snakes or bullies (I deal with bullies in my own way wink wink), and my dream for the future is to become a great ninja."

"Well that's everyone. Our first training session is tomorrow. Oh, I almost forgot, don't have breakfast tomorrow."

"W-why?" Naruto questioned.

"The training is so brutal you'll throw up. Well see you all tomorrow at 5 in the morning." He said before disappearing...


	3. Training

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 3

The next morning at the training field we were all waiting for Kakashi again.

"He's late again!" Sakura yelled impatiently.

"Is he always going to be late?" I pondered.

"Who knows, he could be early someday," Naruto huffed.

"Since he doesn't seem to be coming soon, anyone want some lunch, I made them last night." I offered.

"Sure, do you have ramen?" Naruto shouted.

"Sorry. No," I apologized as Naruto took one of the boxes, "Anyone else want some?"

"No thanks," Sakura said. Sasuke said nothing so I took that as a no. Right before Naruto started eating, Kakashi appeared and took the box from him.

"I thought I told you not to eat today."

"Well, you're late," Naruto lectured.

"But a black cat crossed my path and I thought I'd take it easy. Oh well, this is your first lesson," He held up three bells.

"Bells are our lesson?" Sakura asked.

"It's what you have to do, not the bells themselves."

"So what do we have to do?"

"You all have two hours to get a bell from me. Whoever doesn't get a bell will be tied to one of those posts over there and go without lunch."

"That's why you told us not to have breakfast," Naruto exclaimed.

"Of course, now, begin." A split second after he shouted this, all of us ran to hide in the surrounding woods. I looked around and saw where they all were hiding, Sakura was in the bushes on the other side of Kakashi than I was, and Sasuke was in the tree to the left of me, but Naruto was standing in clear sight, yelling at Kakashi. Naruto charged Kakashi and was hit and catapulted into the river. Naruto slowly climbed out of the river and charged Kakashi again. This time, someone grabbed Kakashi from behind, and I noticed it was another Naruto! Then, even more Naruto's came and helped to pin Kakashi while the real Naruto still charged. When he finally hit Kakashi, he turned into another Naruto which caused a lot trouble between all the Naruto's. The fight between Naruto and himself ended once they all became one Naruto and he noticed one of the bells on the ground. He reached to pick it up but it was a trap which flipped him over and he was hanging upside-down.

"If the bait is obvious, don't go for it," Kakashi told him.

"Hey! Get me down!" Naruto yelled frantically.

I don't know what Sasuke was thinking but all of a sudden I saw him throw shuriken at Kakashi. What surprised me most is that Sasuke hit Kakashi dead on; I would've thought someone like Kakashi sensei would dodge the shuriken. As this was going on, I switched positions to the tree where Naruto was hanging.

"Hang on Naruto I'll get you down." I whispered quickly.

"Thanks Tsara!"

"Keep it down or he'll come after us," I lectured him.

"Who'll come after you," A voice behind me quizzed.

"Kakashi sensei you idi-oh my god!" As I turned around I noticed it wasn't some stranger, it was Kakashi himself. "Boo."

I screamed and fell out of the tree before I could cut Naruto loose. I ran back into the woods and circled around to get to Sakura and ask for help while Sasuke fought with Kakashi. While running, I heard Sasuke grunt and one of the bells ring. I couldn't help but stop to see if Sasuke got one of the bells. Sadly, no, he just tapped one. I started running towards Sakura again, but she was running out to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, that was so awesome!" Sakura cheered.

"No, it wasn't. I just touched one, but I'll get it next time," He sulked.

I offered the idea, "Maybe if you had just a little support from one of us we-you could have gotten a bell."

"No, I can get it on my own," He said still sulking.

"Fine, I'll just cut Naruto down," I said while running over to the tree Naruto was in.

"Here Sasuke, let me help you up," Sakura said cheerfully.

"No! I said I can do this on my own so I will," Sasuke quipped back at her as he ran into the woods after Kakashi.

"It's okay Sakura I'll work with you," Naruto chirped.

"Eww, there is no way I would ever work with you Naruto," she hissed back at him.

I tried to make him feel better by saying, "Don't worry Naruto she's just mad after what Sasuke said to her. Hey, let's both try an attack on Kakashi."

"Nah, I'll just sit here and wait to not get lunch."

"Okay. On the way home I'll buy some more food and make a big dinner tonight."

"I'd be fine with just a few bowls of ramen."

"Fine then, it'll be cheaper to go to the shop anyway. Well, I better go see if I can get a bell. Bye." The bell rang and no one had gotten a bell, but only Naruto was tied to a post because he tried stealing the lunches Kakashi had gotten for those of us who got bells.

He started his lecture with, "Why do you think we put you on squads?" Nobody responded. "Teamwork! If you're going to become ninja, you'll have to learn to work on teams!"

"Wait a minute there are only three bells, but four of us," Sakura added intelligently.

"Yes, to be a ninja you'll have to be able to make sacrifices. You can try again after lunch. Now I have to go for a few minutes so whatever you do don't feed Naruto." After saying this, he disappeared.

"Here." Sasuke offered Naruto his lunch.

"But he said not to give me anything."

"You'll be weak from hunger which will weaken the entire team."

"Wait, Naruto you can have my lunch," I offer.

"No, I don't need that much anyway so you can have my lunch," Sakura said. Naruto seemed like he was about to cry as she gave him her lunch. Just then the sky turned gray with clouds and Kakashi voice rang out "You… You… You… Pass."

"Huh, what?" Naruto said cluelessly.

"You pass. The rest of the squads I've failed just sat there and did nothing to help each other, so you pass."

"Yeah, alright!" Naruto piped up.

"I'll see you all tomorrow to get our first mission."


	4. The C Ranked Mission

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 4

Hi, sorry I haven't updated lately, one of my friends hooked me on an anime series called Ouran High Host Club and I couldn't write 'cuz of my obsession for it.

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After a couple of weeks of "D" ranked missions Naruto exploded.

"I'm tired of all these stupid baby missions! Give us harder tasks!" The Hokage started into a rambling about the ranks of missions and what missions are for, but Naruto started to talk about ramen 20 seconds into the Hokage's speech.

"Fine, you can have a "C" class mission this time, and if all goes well you can keep doing such missions," the Hokage finally said as he caved in to Naruto's idiocy. "You have to travel to another land called "Kurunan" to save its princess, "Mirabel."

"Alright! We get to have some fun now!" Naruto shouted while doing heel-clicks.

"A guide will meet you at the entrance to the village tomorrow morning around 10 o' clock," the Hokage added.

Kakashi finally spoke up saying, "Well, we better all head home to get supplies and to rest up for the mission."

As Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and I walked home, we stopped by the ramen shop since Naruto's talk at the mission distribution center gave us all the urge to eat ramen.

"So Kakashi, how far away is Kurunan?" Sakura quizzed.

"I'm not sure but you might want to ask the guide tomorrow."

Naruto whispered to Sakura, Sasuke, and me "Hey, we'll get to see what's behind Kakashi's mask"

"Yeah, but don't let him know we're trying to find out," Sakura hissed. Slowly, Kakashi started to remove his mask. A second before we could see his face, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru, all jumped in front of our view of Kakashi's face.

"Hey Sasuke!" Ino shouted while giving both Sakura and me a nasty look. We all sat in silence in shock of what had just happened. They all stared back wondering what was wrong. We still had hope that his mask was not on, so we pushed the three of them away, but he had finished off his ramen and replaced his mask. We could tell that it was a great sight because both people working in the shop had hearts for eyes which creeped us out.

"Well, someday we'll find out what's behind his mask but for now let's just get some supplies and rest," I said a little depressed.

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Sorry this one's so short but I have writers block since I'm going to break away from the shows storyline.


	5. C Rank Mission: Day 1

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 5

In the morning I was awakened by Naruto who was getting ready for the mission while singing show tunes very loudly.

"Naruto, if you need to sing, sing on key, quietly!" I shouted still in my morning grumpiness.

"Sorry, but I'm too excited," he chirped.

"Fine, fine," I grumbled, "Well, since I'm up I better get ready." I looked over at the clock… 5:23… "NARUTO!!!!"

"What!"

"Why are you up at 5:20 in the morning?!"

"Oh, I felt like it."

"Ugh, go away and let me sleep." I managed to get a human amount of sleep until eight o' clock. Still tired, I oozed out of bed and into the shower linked to my room. Going through my normal routine I finished getting ready at 8:30. I walked out of my room, "Sorry Naruto, I was just tired." I looked around, but Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Thinking to myself, "Naruto that jerk, he left for the mission already." As I was complaining, Naruto came in looking very happy.

"Ah, nothing beats ramen for breakfast."

"You went out for ramen without me?"

"Yeah, I thought it would be best if I left you alone for a while."

Thinking I just missed him I asked, "When did you leave?"

"Hmm, about 5:30."

"Oh, okay." How can he have been eating ramen for three hours? "So we still have about an hour until we should go, what do you want to do?"

"Let's finish settling you in." It's true, I hadn't unpacked everything from my tent only the box with my clothes had been unpacked. "Hey what's in this box," Naruto asked pointing to a box labeled "Memories."

"It's nothing but a bunch of pictures," I sighed gently.

"Can I see?"

"Sure, go ahead, I don't care. Everything in there is stupid."

"Cool!" He opened the box and started to pull out the pictures. "Who is this lady, your mom?"

"Yeah, but not really."

"Huh, how can she be your mom but not really your mom?"

I sighed, "She was ashamed of me. She said things like…" Still explaining everything…

Flashback:

"I can't believe I gave birth to that… that… thing. She was a mistake; had I known that she would be born of that man, I never would have married him," my mother said hysterically.

"And are you sure you want to go through with this process?" Dr. Hatori asked her hesitantly.

"Yes, remove all my memory of that child and let me live in peace!"

"Fine, let me prepare." In a few seconds, I watched as Hatori put his hand on my own mother's eyes, and in a bright flash all her memory of me was gone…

Back to Reality:

"So you see she's still my mom, but she doesn't know me." I looked up to see Naruto starting to cry.

"I guess you have it worse. Knowing your mother and knowing she didn't love you, is probably worse than not knowing your mom."

"You kinda get over it after a while." I looked up at the clock… 9:25. "It's about time to go."

We ran to the entrance to the village getting there before everyone else.

"What do you think the guide will be like?" I asked Naruto, already over the events of earlier.

"I don't know but I think he'll be really strong and cool!"

"Well, we'll just have to wait." Just then a dog in a Santa hat ran up to us… ON TWO LEGS?

"Excuse me but are you waiting for the guide to Kurunan?" He asked as if nothing was wrong.

"Uh, err, yeah." I managed to stutter.

"Oh, grand, just grand! There are more of you aren't there?"

"Yeah."

"Even more grand! My name is Edward, and I will be your guide to Kurunan."

"No way? This puny thing is our guide?" Naruto shouted as if Edward wasn't there. Sakura, Sasuke, and surprisingly Kakashi (on time wow) all came up to us and greeted Edward.

"Is this everyone?" Edward asked as he looked around at us.

"Yup!" I said as happily as I could to lighten the mood after what Naruto had yelled.

"Okay." He grunted while taking a map out of one of his many pouches. "Today we'll walk south-east and make camp at the end of the peninsula, and then tomorrow we'll take a boat to an island in the Land of Water and rest in the Village Hidden in the Mist. After that day we'll finish crossing the island and take another boat to Kurunan. I'll finish our directions on another map once we get to Kurunan." We left the village with Kakashi in the lead, talking about the mission with Ed, Sasuke and Naruto walking together glaring at each other, and Sakura and me in the back talking about girl stuff.

We made it to the peninsula without much trouble. The only trouble was when Naruto tripped, falling into Sasuke causing him to fall, and Sakura and I tripped over the two of them because we had started to run to get past them to play a joke on them and there wasn't enough time to stop. I fell on top of Sasuke, but when I did so our lips touched lightly. Kakashi and Ed looked back to see a heap of highly uncoordinated genin, one of which was blushing very hard. I quickly jumped up and turned away so Sasuke couldn't see my face.

"S-sorry." Naruto and I said at the same time. Naruto looked at me and I turned away again still feeling the heat of blushing on my face. I saw the look on Ed's face... one of great fear of not having strong enough forces to rescue his lands' princess.

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I know Hatori is from the anime Fruits Basket but I couldn't think of anyone else who can erase memories, and I didn't feel like making one. I'm actually going to be mixing in other animes and names from them whenever needed. I will usually tell you if I use an anime. Edward is from the show MAR (There are two dots above the A but I can't figure out accents), the idea of living in a tent (from first issue of TDOTS) is from fruits basket, as well as the whole story about my mom (my real mom loves me very much, don't worry mom I won't make things up about you)


	6. The Land of Water

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 6

The second morning of our mission was awkwardly silent. I think people were waiting for either Sasuke or me to do something since we "kissed" yesterday, or we were all subdued by the fog that had rolled over us during the night.

We walked to the very tip of the peninsula and waited for our boat. After waiting for some odd minutes, a man, almost in rags, came up in his boat, and said in an oddly accented voice, "Ya waitin for da boat to da Water Land?"

"Yeah." I looked around and saw everyone was a little scared of the man.

"Ma names Taki and ill be shipping ya ta da Water Land."

"Thanks." Ed said in a hoarse voice. The trip to the Land of Water was almost as silent as the morning in camp, except for the squeak made but the steering mechanism. I looked over the water as far as the fog would allow, it was so clear and serene.

"We're dere." Taki almost whispered. We all looked forward to see and through the fog we could see the outline of the island. As we pulled up to the shores of the Land of Water the fog seemed to completely disappear as the sun burst through to shine happily on the land.

We walked to the town only to see most people poorly clothed and dirty. Whenever I looked into a shop I saw just a few items.

"Why is everything so… so… poor?" I asked.

"I don't know." Kakashi responded.

"But doesn't anyone care? Doesn't anybody want to help these people?"

"Not every place is perfect."

"But that's not right. Someone should help. These people shouldn't have to suffer!" I shouted before running off.

Naruto took a step to start running but Kakashi stopped him, "No, let her be. She'll come back before we leave tomorrow." Still Naruto, as well as everyone else, stared after me.

I ran for a while until I reached a small forest, "I… can't believe… that no one… will help these people," I said still breathless from running. I walked into the woods absently thinking about the situation the people were in. Deeper in the woods I started to hear a song playing on an ocarina… it was so familiar. I started to sing the words to the song while walking closer. I finally reached a small clearing with a little girl, with light brown hair, facing the opposite direction of me and I stopped singing. She played for a while longer, but stopped when she heard me shift around.

"That's a nice song. What is it," I gently asked her.

"It's not allowed, only those of the royal family can use it."

"Oh, really, then you must be royal."

"No. I'm from one of the poorest families in this village."

"Oh… Why were you playing that song then?"

"Because, it was the lullaby my mom sang, but she's not around anymore."

"I'm so sorry… Your mom must have loved you very much."

"Yeah."

"You're lucky to have a mom like that."

"I guess."

"You don't guess, you know."

"Hey, I heard you singing how did you know the song?"

"There's only two answers, I'm not royal, and I heard it somewhere, or I am royal."

"But…" Before she finished, I jumped back and out of the clearing. Knowing she was following me, I ran out of the woods and back into town. I went through the maze-like town with her close on my heels, but I was stopped when I ran into Sasuke, and yet again our lips touched. "Eww. Kissing, blech." I heard the girl say as she ran off.

"What's your problem?" I heard Sasuke sigh as he got up and then offered me a hand.

"Sorry." I replied getting up on my own, trying to keep my long hair hiding my red face.

"Yeah, whatever. Kakashi sent me out to find you and tell you where we're staying for the night."

"Oh, kay."

"But since I found you, and you don't seem to have a place of your own to stay for the night, how about we just walk back to camp?"

"Fine." We walked back and Naruto gave me a lecture for running away. That night was quiet, just like in the morning. I wondered what caused this but I couldn't have thought long because I had fallen asleep shortly after we had finished eating.

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Nothing much to say so yeah.


	7. Start the Seige

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 7

In the morning, as we left the village people came to wish us luck. The crowd was made of almost every kind of person, but I noticed the girl from the forest was there. She ran out and said, "I didn't get to tell you, my name's Sage."

"Oh, my name's Tsara."

"Promise you'll come back and play with me, but don't bring your boyfriend to make kissy faces at."

"He's not my boyfriend," I shouted not realizing that she had been whispering. Everyone was staring at me with worried looks.

"Ooookay. Let's go," Kakashi said to my relief. We walked to the other side of the island with Taki following us.

"If ya haven't figurd out im takin ya ta Kurunan heres where ya do." We all piled into the boat and waited for Taki to untie the boat and start us on our way. The ride was almost too long for my tastes, but we still got to Kurunan a little after noon.

Taki dropped us on the shore and set sail back to the island shortly after we thanked him.

Ed took out another map this time it was one of Kurunan, "This isn't an entire map of Kurunan, but one of the island we're on. The royal family houses are on this island, cut off from the commoners on the mainland. The princess is in an abandoned castle that belonged to another branch of her family. We're not too far, but it will take an hour to walk there. To give you a vague idea of the distance… we're here," He pointed to the coast on the southern end of the island, "And the castle Mirabel is in is here," He pointed to a point on the map just a little inward of the west coast.

"Well then, we better start moving," Kakashi said shattering the silence that had fallen while Ed was talking. We had walked three-fourths of the way before it was five.

"We're making camp here for a while so we can regain energy before attacking," Ed told us while pointing to a spot in the tree-line. Seeing the looks on our faces, he ran over and pulled some branches out of the way revealing a small, but comfortable cave. "Sorry, but we can't have a fire for the time we are here. There may be sentries set up checking for smoke, and we don't want them finding us before we even get a chance to get into the castle."

We were told to sleep while Ed and Kakashi sat watch and talked. I was too excited to sleep so I ended up wasting time staring at the ceiling. One of my friends always said the thing that's more exciting than the floor is the ceiling.

Sometime around midnight, Ed told us where the castle was, but that he couldn't come or else he'd give us away. We told him to be safe while we were replacing the camouflage to the cave. Kakashi forced us into the trees for cover as we approached the castle.

"I am the shadows," I heard Naruto whisper from behind. I had to stop moving to suppress my laughter. Sasuke passed me with a sigh, and I jumped to catch up to him, but Kakashi stopped me, "Quit treating this like a game, all of you. Also, we're here."

Looking ahead, we saw the ghost of a castle looming over us. When I looked closely I could see dots of people walking from one spot to another: the sentries. Ed was right.

"Ready… Set… MOVE!" Kakashi yelled.

We started to run towards the castle as the sentries noticed us and started preparing their weapons to keep us out of their master's way. Before we had gotten too far, arrows started raining on us…

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Serious writers block while writing this one. OO; Oh no, I'm losing my fast writing mojo! It's tough focusing when you want to watch awesome animes like DN Angel… gaaah. Liz, if you're reading, thanks for the ceiling/floor thing. Thanks to those who review : D, I know, it's nice to be recognized. : P


	8. Into the Castle

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 8

Weee! I'm writing at 11:57 at night! Woo! I can't sleep for reasons beyond my comprehension, so where was I…

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The arrows narrowly missed us, except the one or two that grazed me because of my lack of ability. We made it to the gate and took cover under the arch. Big mistake, they had small windows that they could see through and only an arrow could fit through. There was no choice but to run down the hall hoping for the best. Sasuke was showing off, using flips to dodge the arrows, while the rest of us were just jumping through the barrage of arrows. At the gate to the courtyard we got our kunai out while Sakura picked the lock.

"Just another second," she said half to herself while we were practically dancing to stop the arrows with our kunai. "Got it!" I ran back and helped her push open the doors, the second they were open we all ran through and closed the doors.

To our relief the courtyard was well over-grown; it blocked all shots of arrows from above. With great caution we walked through the garden, trying to find the next door to the princess. We paired up, Sakura and Naruto, Sasuke and me, and Kakashi alone. Sasuke was using his sharingan to locate the door, and I was hopping from tree to tree trying to see if the door was on the floor.

When I landed on a tree it sounded hollow, "Hey Sasuke come here and check this out." He ran up another tree and then onto a branch of the hollow tree.

"Cut a hole in it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's too big to be normal even in here. I think they made this garden how it is to trap people but to get themselves out they made trees like this."

"If that's so shouldn't there be an easier way in?"

"Probably, but we don't know if they'll come so just break it."

"Fine." I cut a hole in it big enough to fit through. (I'm stopping for the night 'cuz I get up at 6:30 and I want some sleep. The time is 12:19, goodnight everyone, Sorry I thought you might want to know or it's just my boredom.) We jumped through the hole forgetting to call the others over. The tree gave a surprisingly long ride down, but when we did reach the bottom it opened into another room with a fall to the floor from the tunnel. I landed first and then Sasuke landed on me.

"Looks like we can't go back up," Sasuke stated.

"Yeah, hey, why did you follow me when you could've gotten the others?" I thought what are you, stupid?

"I don't know," He said while looking away, "It didn't seem to matter; besides there has to be more than one tree like that in the garden. I'm sure the others will find another or ours with the hole in it. We still need to keep moving; we're not sure if someone's been watching us."

"Yeah, let's go!"

In another part of the castle:

"Sir, two of the squad found an entrance to the lower levels, luckily they did not inform the others," Said a lowly soldier.

"But that still means they are one step closer to the girl," Replied a man facing monitors now showing a video of a boy and girl walking down a corridor.

"Yes, but I meant to tell you, sir. The girl that made it to the lower level has the princess's powers; scanners on the cameras picked up the signs."

"Really? This shall pose as a problem. Extract her from the field and bring her to me."

"Yes sir!" The man said with a salute.

Back in the lower levels with Sasuke and me:

We walked randomly down different halls paying close attention to where we had been. "Wait… We've been here before."

"What makes you say that, Tsara?"

"When we walked down here I got bored and quickly drew a smiley face with my kunai, thinking I should have been marking the path from the beginning."

"So, we should just go the other direction at the next turn." We walked down the hall we had been through before but when we came to the corner the opposite turn had disappeared.

"This can't be possible. I remember no turns before the fork in the path. Something's up here, and I intend to find out."

From the speakers lining the hallways there came a deep voice, "Smart girl you are." The speakers turned off and the voice came from a man down the hall with bright blond hair and golden eyes, "But it won't do you a lot of good now. By the way before you become my prisoners I thought you might want to know my name's Krad." Before we could do much, two goons came from behind and bear-hugged us to keep us from escaping.

"Hey! Let us go!"

"Sorry girlie, but I'm afraid that won't happen anytime soon. Take her to the ice prison and the boy… Hmm… I can't think of much of a purpose for him so you can either kill him or send him to work."

"What? No! You leave him alone Crab!"

"I do believe you mean Krad."

"No, I'm resorting to common insult because I have no stronger arguments to offer." With that, his eyes flickered in rage as he slapped me across the face.

"Keep your hands off her!" Sasuke yelled.

"Killing him would be a lot less painful, so send him to work in mine B, and once you send him off, fetch his friends and send them to other mines, maybe mines C, E and U. Now, off with you. I'll be down to visit you soon my princess."

"I'll be waiting, jerk."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Good princesses shouldn't have to call others names." They carried us to the end of the hall, for that I was grateful, but they took different directions at the fork that wasn't there a few minutes ago. The man carrying me didn't look too bright so I tried to trick him into letting me go. His response was hugging me harder until I stopped talking. At the end of the hall there was a sturdy looking, wood door which the man lightly tapped with his foot to open it. Inside there was a beautiful ice orb that took up most of the space.

"How goes it?"

"Good, would you like me to open her up?"

"If you would." Another man walked out from a shadowed corner and touched the orb saying things in another language. When the new man finished his chant, the ice began to form a door, through which the other man pushed me. I ran to get out, but the ice closed up, trapping me.

A voice came from behind me, "Are you okay?" I turned around to see a girl in a green gown with dark brown hair and grey eyes.

"Uh, yeah. A little upset but physically, I'm fine."

"That's good; I'm guessing you have magical powers as well."

"Yeah, it comes with the whole ear and tail thing, but I don't like to show it."

"Ah, my name is Mirabel by the way."

"Ha, we were supposed to come and rescue you, but we ended up getting split up, lost, and trapped. We must be really good at saving people." She giggled at this comment.

"You might want to get some rest before Krad comes to test your abilities."

"No, I'll be fine; we haven't been using too much energy for a while."

"Still, you never know how long you'll be tested."

"Fine, but don't let them just come in and grab me when I'm sleeping; I want to be alert and ready to fight."

"Got it."

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So tired, so long, ugh. Ha Liz, Krad (anime: DN Angel) is evil so he will be the evil guy in my story. Everyone say "Hi Krad." Sorry Allison, Liz, I won't mangle anymore of the quotes from those books.


	9. Battle with Krad

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 9

"Wake up, he's here," A faraway voice said.

"Five more minutes," I mumbled.

"What happened to 'I want to be alert and ready to fight."

"That was when I wasn't sleeping."

"Of course."

"Of course, what?" At this voices entrance to the conversation I jumped up out of the spot I was sleeping. "I see you're awake." My response to Krad was just a mean glare that was returned by a warm smile.

"You do know you're not fooling me with that smile, right?"

"Yes. Now put these on, I wish to test your abilities." He tossed me an outfit of brown pants and a shirt. "I wouldn't want what you're wearing to get dirty."

I stood there for a moment holding the clothing just forced into my grasp. I'm not changing."

Reading the look on my face he told me, "I expected that, there's a room over there where you can change."

"So you do have a few human attributes."

"I have to otherwise I wouldn't be here. You see my tamer (tamer: the person in which people like Krad live) is human, so of course I gain some of his personality." He gave me another warm smile almost sarcastically. That jerk. I went into the back room, which was an actual room, not ice, and I changed into the clothes slowly, trying to make Krad wait. I came out still angry about the current situation. "Good, now follow me and show me what you can do." He led me outside the orb making sure Mirabel wouldn't be able to get out. "Anything to say before we start?"

"Yes," I said very calmly, "… WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS!!!!?"

"They're still up in the courtyard prison. Anything else?"

"No." I said gruffly getting into a fighting stance.

"Well then, let's begin!" He started charging at me, but I jumped up to dodge. Knowing that I'd go up, his feet tapped lightly on the ground, and then he soared up, managing to get in a beautiful hit in my stomach. I fell to the ground making a bigger cloud of dust and sound than what was expected. He came down to make sure he didn't hit his 'princess' too hard, but as I expected, I flipped over and swooped my foot under his causing him to fall. Rolling out of the way of his fall, I jumped up and started for the orb to try and get Mirabel out. Krad recovered too fast for my tastes but nothing could change that. We spent a few minutes just trying to punch each other; I couldn't hit him, but he managed to get me quite a few times.

After one shot, I flew into the because of the force. "I'm getting tired of this," I said to myself. In the air, I turned around and collected my magic into a blast, which I fired at Krad. He fell down with a loud thump. "I know you're using my trick."

"You must be good at this stuff."

"I was trained by the best."

"I see." At first I couldn't see but he pulled a white feather out from one of his sleeves. He whipped it out towards me and a blast like my own came out, but at the last second I used my magic as a shield.

"Like that would be able to stop me."

"It wasn't supposed to, it was to distract you."

"Distract me, from what?" From behind me arms came and bear-hugged me like the man from before.

"That."

"Wah, there are two of you?"

"Not really. I just made a clone of myself using my magic."

"That's cheap."

"If I was in your place I would argue as well." Wait, if _I _could do it. I remembered something Naruto had taught me during the period of time when we were still doing 'D' ranked missions.

Flashback: (weee)

"Shadow clone jutsu?"

"Yeah, it makes copies of the person doing the jutsu. It comes in handy when you're against someone tough or when it's more than one person." We spent an entire week training until I finally got it.

Back to reality: (woo)

I guess he falls under both categories of when to use the jutsu. I kicked back and hit his clone on the head causing him to drop me. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

"What are you doing!?" He yelled as the room filled with my clones. We jumped him all at once, but he overpowered us and destroyed them as easily as I had made them. "I'm getting tired of this," He said getting out the feather. I started to run, but this time I was put to sleep instead of shot at. Krad carried me to the orb and opened it. He set me on the floor gently.

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I'm so proud, I donated my hair. The lady who did it gave me a beautiful haircut for free, and it just shows if you do nice things other people will do nice things.


	10. Back to the Courtyard

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 10

Sorry, it's just I'm celebrating my 10th part of TDOTS and I'm so happy. Also, when you cut your long hair be prepared for startled looks from friends. Bye-bye! Huggles

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When I awoke my body was so sore I could hardly move.

"That was some fight," Mirabel said. "_I_ didn't even fight that hard. I'm amazed."

"Yeah, me too," I giggled.

"Food," The man who had brought me to the prison said. I looked at the trays seeing a brown mush in a bowl.

"Ugh, what is that?"

"Ramen," Mirabel told me.

"Let's just hope it doesn't attack." Mirabel laughed, so I started laughing as well.

We ate in silence for a while, until Mirabel said, "Once you're done you can change back into your clothes. He won't fight you for a while."

"Thanks," I said while shoving what looked somewhat like a roll into my mouth. I got up to go get changed back into my clothes, but I heard a sound like a bell ring. Then, I noticed pressure on my neck; it was a silver bell on a red ribbon.

"He put it on you while you were unconscious to make sure you wouldn't be able to surprise attack him," Mirabel stated calmly. I tried to take it off, but Mirabel told me that Krad had put a curse on it so that only he could take it off.

"You know, I hate Krad a little more each day," I said as I sat down again.

"That's how it was for me when I first got here." I shifted around hearing the bell ring again.

"He better trust me soon, and take off this bell, or else." I said while clenching my firsts.

"Why don't you get changed, it might calm you down a little."

"I'll pass." I shifted again, uncomfortable in the outfit that was given to me. Mirabel looked at me as though she knew I wanted to change.

"Look, it's all over your face, just go get into your own clothes."

"Fine," I grumbled as I walked to the room. "Hey Miiiiiirabel?"

"Yeees?"

"Might you know where my clothes are?"

"Of course, they're in one of the drawers over there," pointing at a small cabinet with two drawers. "The top is yours."

"Thanks." I ran over and got my clothes. After getting changed, I came back and talked with Mirabel about random things.

The orb opened and Krad walked through, "I hope your accommodations meet your standards." I glared at him until he asked me to come and attack him.

"Gladly," I shouted while trying to get up. The only problem was that I couldn't.

"Having trouble?"

"Not at all."

"Well then come and hit me." I struggled to get up, but I still couldn't. It was like someone was holding me down. "You see there is magic flowing through this orb; magic that I can control without much effort, and I have made it so you cannot get up and attack me."

"I hate you so much right now."

"Funny, I just thought that you might want to see your friends, but since you're being so mean…"

I growled under my breath saying, "I'm sorry, just take me to my friends."

"That's a good girl. Now come along." He snapped his fingers and I jumped up and ran past him. I looked behind to see him stop and snap his fingers again. The walls at the ends of the hallway I was in, slammed down. "Sorry, but I have to drain a little of that magic out of you first." On both of the new walls, an odd fork-like thing came out, and the walls started moving together. As they got closer an almost white charge stretched from one to the other barely missing me. "Just relax and walk into the current. It will all be done after that. You can go see your friends after do."

"Are you crazy?! I'm not walking into that." My voice echoed in the small area. The two fork-like things started to move on the walls. I didn't notice until they had hit me. I collapsed as the walls went back up.

Krad walked up to me and rested a hand on my shoulder, "C'mon, let's go see your friends."

I walked in silence as he led me through the labyrinth below the castle, making sure to keep close to him to avoid any more traps, feeling my magic power coming back with my silent rage. He opened a door in the ceiling and climbed through; he offered me a hand like Sasuke had done once. I rejected his help and climbed though on my own, feeling horrible for doing the same to Sasuke. I winced because of the brightness of day.

"The only way in is through the doors, but you can get out using the tunnels and the door." We walked through the hallway that was showering my friends and me with arrows only a short time ago. Krad opened the doors using his magic, and then pushed me through closing the doors as soon as I was in. Everyone ran over to check the door because it had been locked ever since we went in.

I heard Sakura yell, "Tsara!" This caused the other three to run faster. (Notice one's been added, it should be just Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi, who else is here? I wonder)

All at once they shouted my name again. One of them jumped over me and hugged me from behind, causing the bell to ring. I had thought it was Naruto with a huge burst of energy, but no. "Tsara, I'm so sorry I left you down there."

I looked back… "Sasuke!" When the others came through they saw Sasuke and me hugging each other. I noticed what I had been doing and quickly let go.

"Tsara, where have you been?" Kakashi asked.

"I've been in the lower levels of the castle with Mirabel."

Naruto chimed in, "No way! The only way out is through those doors and they've been locked."

"Didn't Sasuke tell you how to get down?"

"No. He was just thrown in here, and when we asked how he got out, he couldn't remember," Sakura said.

"How can you not remember?"

"I don't know; all I remember was we were walking in the lower levels and then we were taken away."

"You mean you don't remember the tree we used to get down? The hole I cut should still be there right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Fine, I'll show you." I ran to where the tree was, but the hole was gone and when I hit the tree it didn't sound hollow like before. "This can't be right, the tree was right here."

"Are you sure this is the one?"

"Yes! I remember exactly. All the branches are in the same spots and the tree itself is in the same spot."

"They must have filled it when we were sleeping and put a cover on the hole."

"Sasuke said there might be more trees like this, so maybe if we check a few more we can find another."

"Good idea, Tsara." We split up into solo groups and looked around. I found myself drifting towards the doors while checking trees; I tried to go in a different direction, but it was like I was being pulled towards them.

When I got close enough they burst open and Krad swooped in and grabbed me. "Time's up," He said in a partially angry voice. He dragged me down the hall, and in the middle of the hall he used the feather to put me to sleep again.


	11. Meet Ed's Other Form

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 11

In the cave where Ed is:

"I can't believe I'm so useless. Just one more time until the other me comes out. I better start on my way."

Back in the castle:

"Ugh, where am I?"

"In solitary confinement," Krad's voice rang out from a speaker.

"Why am I here instead of in that ice prison?"

"Your powers were too strong for it to hold you, so we imbued this cell with magic strong enough to hold you. The reason for draining your powers before was to make it so you could stay in the ice prison, but your powers came back too soon."

There was a pause, then over the speakers I could hear a message coming to Krad, "Sir, a man has infiltrated the base through the doors to the labyrinth, and he's heading in the direction of the solitary confinement sector."

"Very well, I shall intercept him." How could someone get in without being detected until he had made it in some distance? There was the sound of a blast and then someone yell. The room began to shake, and then one of the walls broke and someone came through.

"Hello Tsara, I see you've been in trouble for a while," The man said. He had brown hair, two scars on his face, and he was dressed in white. Seeing the look of confusion on my face he said, "It's me, Ed, you remember, the one you left in the cave."

"What?! You can't be you were a dog when we left!"

"I turn into a human when the dog falls asleep three times, and I turn into a dog when I fall asleep one time. We were cursed to share the same body."

"How did you know where to find me?"

"I used my magic."

"You have magic?"

"Of course, but this is not the time to be talking." Krad had followed Ed through the series of walls and had just reached us.

"Get away from her! She's going to be a loyal fighter for me and nothing will stop that."

He started charging at Ed, but I jumped in the way, with the bell ringing, and used a barrage of magical blasts, "You stay away from him!" Krad flew behind the wall through the hole to protect himself. He jumped back out once I stopped and started to punch at me. This time I was the one who didn't get hit, and he was the one getting hurt. One punch sent him into another wall, allowing Ed and me to escape through the hole in the wall.

"How do we get to Mirabel, Ed?"

"I'm not sure, I can't use my magic to track her; everything has been coated with magic identical to Mirabel's."

"How about the rest of the squad?"

"They're all upstairs in the courtyard."

"Then, let's go get them, and have them help find her."

"Good, let's go." We ran down the halls towards the tunnels leading to the trees, but as we got close I noticed on the wall a smiley face.

"Ed, you keep going, I know where Mirabel is."

"Wait, shouldn't I come with you?"

"No, you need to help the others get out."

"Alright just promise you'll come back in one piece."

"You got it!" I ran down the hall and when I got to the fork in the path I remembered the left path had disappeared at one point. I took that path at a full run, but I stopped when a wall had gotten in my way. "There was no wall here when I was taken down this path." I rammed into the wall hearing a man yelp and the wall fell down. "So that's how it is!" I jumped on the fallen wall, hearing the man yelp at the added weight, and I ran down the hall until I could see the heavy wooden door. The man that had opened the door to the ice prison got in my way and started to chant a spell, but I ran into him and he fell over, stopping his spell to be able to break his fall. I quickly opened the door and went in locking it shut with my magic.

"I knew you'd get here soon." Krad was standing in front of the orb with anger glittering in his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess you did," I said returning the look.

"I challenge you to a battle, if I win you will become my loyal servant, but if I lose I will release you and your friends." He gestured towards a wall and it went up into the ceiling, revealing Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, and Ed chained to the wall.

"I accept, now, prepare yourself!" I charged, moving so fast it startled him, and he jumped into the air and shot at me using the feather. I dodged and ran around in the small space, "Light Bow!" Out of nowhere a bow appeared and I used it to shoot at Krad, hitting one of his wings square in the center, and another arrow scratching his cheek as he plummeted to the ground. I stopped running. "Thank you," I said as the bow disappeared.

"That was cheap."

"No, I was just using my powers to the advantage."

"But, I get a cheap shot," He jumped up and tried to grab my neck, but the bell got in the way. "This thing is getting in my way," He shouted as he yanked it off my neck.

"Ha, you just caused your own demise." I kick-flipped hitting him in the jaw, and he dropped me. "Now you see me," I gathered my powers and used them to turn invisible, "And now you don't." He stepped around trying to protect himself, but I hit a pressure point in his back, causing him to collapse. I turned visible again and punched him so he was unconscious. "I win."

Naruto yelled, "Nice, Tsara!" I walked to the orb and shattered it releasing Mirabel. We combined our powers and unlocked the chains holding the others.

"Good job, kid," Ed said.

"Thanks," I said before collapsing of fatigue.

"Go ahead, rest you deserve it," I heard Mirabel say before falling asleep.


	12. Enter Dark Mousy

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 12

"Good morning ma'am, how are you doing today," A woman in a sky blue dress asked.

"Umm, good, I guess. Where are we?"

"You are in the castle of the royal family. Princess Mirabel welcomed you and your friends to stay with us for however long you need as thanks for saving her."

"Oh, do you know where I could find my friends or Mirabel?"

"Of course, they're all in the midst of their morning meal. Please go and have some. It will be at the end of the hall to your right when you exit the room."

"Thanks." I walked down the hall smelling the aroma of the food.

"Good morning!" Everyone said in unison.

Mirabel was at the head of the table next to the dog form of Ed and an empty seat, "Come and sit with me. I can't thank you enough for saving me."

"It wasn't much trouble," I said while sitting down, feeling the sores from the battle.

"How long would you like to stay, for you are always welcome?"

"I was hoping we could leave sometime today, if that's okay?"

"Of course. It's just a shame my brother's to-be-bride went missing; you could have stayed for the wedding."

"I'm not much of a wedding fan." We ate breakfast while talking about the excitement from the past days. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi ate as if there was no tomorrow. Naruto posed the idea of seeing what was behind Kakashi's mask, but a fruit basket in the middle of the table blocked our view.  
Once we finished eating we thanked Mirabel and her family for inviting us in, and left for home, minus Ed of course.

Taki carried us back to the island. We went into the town and people gathered around to praise us, but I broke away to find Sage. I went through the town, but I couldn't find her. It occurred to me that she might be in the woods where I had first met her.

When I went into the clearing she was facing me, "I'm glad you came back!"

"It's nice to see you Sage."

"How was it?"

"Annoying," I said remembering Krad.

"Well, I've been waiting anxiously for you to come back. There's a rumor that Dark Mousy is in your village."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, everyone's been hyped up since it started to spread. It's been forty years since he was last seen."

"Now I can't wait to get home! You just had to tell me didn't you?"

"Yup." We walked back to town making guesses at why Dark reappeared after so long. Kakashi ran up and told me that we had to leave for home right away.

"See you again sometime Sage!"

"I hope you'll keep to that!" We ran to where Taki had dropped us when we had just started the mission, and jumped into his waiting boat. There was a rush in the way he pushed us across the water.

"Hary up, an get home!" He shouted as we jumped out of the boat, and started to run back to the village. We all were out of breath when we had to stop after an hour of running. All of us were impatient to keep moving, but Kakashi was wise enough to keep us put long enough for us to get back enough energy to run the rest of the way. By the time we had reached the village it was dark. Immediately the gates were opened and we ran in. The Hokage was standing outside waiting for us, "I see you have gotten here just in time… do not talk for you might not get enough air into your lungs. The thief of forty years ago, Dark Mousy, has reappeared, and has sent a warning that he will steal someone from our village tonight so that they may join him. It did not specify whom he will take, but we wanted to be sure he would be tracked by all the elite jonin in the village. The rest of you return home and lock your doors. Let us pray that he will not take anyone from us."

On the way home Naruto wanted to stop for ramen but I said, "The shop is probably closed because of Dark's appearance." Naruto walked the rest of the way home in silence. We walked in, and Naruto went to his room quietly while I locked the door.

"You think that could have stopped me?" A voice from behind asked. I froze on the spot not wanting to turn around. "What is it, are you afraid that I will hurt you."

"No, it's just… I wasn't expecting you to pick either Naruto or me as your target," I said still facing the door.

"Life's full of surprises," He said as he got up from where he had been sitting. "Right… Tsaralan." I whipped around to see Dark right in front of me. "That is your full first name, am I right?"

"H-how did you know?"

"I know a lot of things; like you ran away from your kingdom and that your real last name is Shianunon." At this I started to run for my room, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back, grabbing my other hand. "I also know that you were Mirabel's brother's fiancé." I tried to struggle out of his grip, but he had managed to unlock and open the door. He then pulled me close and started flying; stopping me from struggling. Before I knew what was happening, we landed on a roof and he said, "Don't forget what I know about you and what I can use against you." He put me down and jumped off the roof, I was about to run to see where he was going, but Kakashi and the other jonin came up on the roof.

I was shaking violently when I felt Kakashi's hand on my shoulder, "You better come with us." One of the other jonin gave me their coat as we walked away.

At the police station:

"Tell us Tsara, did he do anything?" Hearing my pseudo name brought me comfort.

"No, he just talked to me, and carried me to that roof."

"That's good. Did he talk about something he wanted to steal?"

"No, he just talked about me."

"What kind of things?"

"Why does it matter? I'm okay!"

"… Tsara we just want to be sure nothing will happen, to you or anyone else."

"Well, he didn't give any information," I said thinking, 'About something other than me.'

"Alright then, I guess you can go home, but we're sending someone with you to make sure you'll be fine." I was taken home by the jonin who had given me his coat.

"Thanks," I said while giving it back to him at the door to the apartment, "It helped me a lot."

"No problem." I walked in and turned on the lights before closing the door… no one there. I closed the door and locked it keeping in mind that not even a lock can stop him. I opened the door to Naruto's room… still there. I went into my room half-expecting Dark to be in there, but when I turned on the lights it was empty except for my furniture… and a letter on my bed. Walking past the letter, I went and got into my pajamas and sat on the bed facing the note. My eyes were only focused on the envelope; it had my real name printed on top, 'Tsaralan.'

"Thank goodness no one came in." I picked up the letter and opened it:

'Dear Tsaralan,

I hope my actions were not too rash tonight. I only wanted to meet you, and have you know who I was. I also wanted you to know what I know, and that I'll be keeping an eye on you.

-Dark Mousy'

I sighed as a slammed back into my bed, and got under the covers. I tried to sleep lightly so I could defend myself, but I was too tired after the day's events.


	13. Enter Daisuke Niwa

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 13

Sorry to interrupt but I'm going on a huge writing spree, and it feels good!!!!!! Forgot Dark and Daisuke are from DN Angel. (I figured out not too long ago Dark is Krad spelled backwards, am I dumb or what)

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"Morning Tsara!" Naruto was jumping on my bed like a little kid; I screamed.

"Naruto what are you doing?"

"Today's our first day back at the academy!"

"Fine, now get off my bed so I can get ready." Naruto tried to jump off the bed, but he tripped, landing on his face. I couldn't help but laugh, "I'm sorry Naruto, but that's what you get for waking me up like that." I slid out of bed to help him up, but the letter from Dark fell out of my bed and I put it in the drawer next to my bed. I'll have to burn that later. Naruto had gotten up and walked out of the room by the time I had turned around to help. I changed quickly and ran past Naruto saying, "Race ya!"

"No fair!" We got to the academy just before the bell rang.

"It's good to see you all again," Iruka sensei said. A boy with red hair and eyes walked into the room. "We have a new student Daisuke Niwa. I hope you'll all welcome him like you did Tsara." I waved my hand to remind them I was still here. "Oh, and Tsara your pretty lucky considering last night."

"Ha, yeah," I tried to say this as happily as I could, but knowing that people had been worried made me upset.

"Daisuke, why don't you sit next to Tsara?"

"Kay," He said while running up the steps. When he sat down I gave him a warm smile, but something about him made me uneasy so I turned back to the board and tried to focus on it. The lunch bell rang and we went outside. Most of the squads sat together, but a few people sat with their friends. Daisuke didn't look like he had anyone to sit with, so I invited him over to sit with us even though I didn't really want him to. The rest of the squad made friends with him, but I couldn't stand the uneasiness of being near him so I went and ate with Hinata's squad.

We went back to class and when class was over we went to the training grounds. Naruto had invited Daisuke to come with us. At the grounds we paired up and started to spar, and Daisuke watched. I started the CD player and this is what started… "It's Hamtaro time, kush kush kush kush wow! Hamtaro! When we work together it's much better. My best friend, we like sunflower seeds krump krump krump. My ham-ham…" Everyone slowly turned and looked as I stared at the CD player… "NAARUTOOO! How many times have I told you not to mess with what's on my disks?!" I yelled for a few minutes and then we got back to training. Naruto misfired a kunai and it went straight for Daisuke, but he moved out of the way just in time. They all ran over to make sure he was fine, giving me the perfect opportunity to slip away.

I walked through the town for a while until I met up with them at the ramen shop. "I've never seen someone eat that much ramen," Daisuke said startled.

"It's Naruto, you'll get used to it," Sakura told him. Daisuke's cell phone rang and when he was done talking he had to go.

"I don't know what it is, but I'm not sure we can trust him."

"You're just paranoid because you were kidnapped by Dark."

"Am not!"

"Say what you want, we still know it's true."

"I'll prove to you that I'm not paranoid," I said as I walked into the street. "See perfectly fi…"

"That'll make her paranoid for sure," Sasuke sighed. Dark had swooped down and grabbed me out of the street.

"How's it going, Tsaralan?" I didn't respond I just tried to make myself heavier and harder to carry. "Are you mad at me?" … "Fine, I'll just carry you off to god knows where in silence."

"That would be an improvement. You wouldn't be able to call me that horrible name."

"Ah, she speaks." Again, I was silent. We flew for a while before he spoke again, "Don't you want to know where we're going?"

"Not at all."

"You're no fun."

"Thanks."

"Even if you don't want to know, I'm still going to tell you. Krad is trying to hunt you down; I've been getting information about you to get leverage to make sure you'd accept my help. I'm going to take you back to your place; if you have any questions ask Daisuke."

"Wait, you mean you sent Daisuke Niwa to be your messenger?"

"Kind of." Dark dropped me down at the house. "Stay safe and if you need me and I'm not around or Daisuke isn't around either, use this to reach me." He tossed me a trinket with three blue gems. "Put your powers into it and say my name and we'll be able to talk."

"Thanks," I said holding the small thing between my thumb and index finger.

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About the Hamtaro thing, I was bored and I heard the song, so yeah.


	14. The New Assignment

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 14

I hate this, I think I'm sick. If this is a bad chapter of the diaries I'm sorry but I'm sore all over, and I have writers block after writing 3 chapters in one day.

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Over the night I had put the small trinket Dark had given me on a chain. Naruto barged into my room and shouted, "Today we're doing something different in class!"

"That's great and all, but… stop coming into my room in the morning. I got an alarm clock to wake me up. Had I known you would do this every morning I wouldn't have bought it."

"Sorry, it's just I'm so excited every morning." As always, I kicked him out of my room and got ready for school. I carefully placed the necklace around my neck and ran to school alone; Naruto had gone ahead out of excitement.

At the academy, Iruka told us what we were doing, "Today, your squads will be split up and each member will go to a different village to help with their missions. You will have three days, one to travel to the village, one to do the missions, and the last one for the trip back. This applies to you and students from other years. One of the members in Kakashi's squad will stay here and work on our village's missions. The rest of you will be going to the village hidden in the Mist, in the Sand, or among the Stones." He went down the list giving everyone a village to go to. "Tsara Shikamuno, the village hidden in the Mist."

"Alright!" I shouted with glee at the fact that I would be able to see Sage again.

"I can not wait to help the village hidden in the Mist with you," A boy with thick eyebrows and round, black hair whispered from behind me.

"Whoa!" I jumped out of my chair and hit the wall. "Where'd you come from?"

"Your dreams, of course," He said pulling my face close to his. I ducked out of the way of his kiss and stood up, getting into a stance that would be useful for a quick escape.

"Okay, quit using cheesy lines," I hissed at the boy. I saw Sasuke turn away from the sight with a look of jealousy on his face.

"You two relax," Iruka ordered us.

"Sorry Iruka."

"Rock Lee, save the charms for after class."

"Yes Iruka sensei."

"You will leave tomorrow for the villages."

Daisuke walked over at the end of class, and intercepted me before Rock Lee had a chance to get close. "You okay?"

"Yeah, Iruka helped when he told that Rock Lee to bug me after class."

"No, I mean about what Dark talked to you about."

"Oh, yeah I'm fine," I said while faking a smile to hide my fear about Krad.

"Quit faking."

"Huh, how did you know?"

"You just told me."

"Darn it!"

Naruto came up to us and asked, "Hey, you want to have ramen as a goodbye thing?"

"Sure," I said.

"Daisuke, you want to come too?"

"Okay, but Naruto, you were assigned this village and I wasn't assigned one at all, so we could be hanging out anytime during the three days."

"I know, but there's never a bad time for ramen!" We went to the ramen shop and everyone had one bowl of ramen except Naruto who had seven.

"I'm sorry everyone but I need to go get supplies. I'll see you guys in a few days."

"See ya Tsara."

I had walked for a while and picked up a few supplies when Daisuke ran up, "Hey, mind if I walk with you?"

"Not at all. What's up?"

"How could you tell I wanted something?"

"You just told me," I said with a smirk.

"It's about you going away." He stopped waiting for me to respond but when I didn't he kept going. "You're going to an island close to where Krad was last seen, and it would be difficult for Dark and me to get there to help before anything happens to you."

"Don't worry, I'll be able to hold him off long enough for you guys to come and help," I said starting to run.

"Hey! I'm not done talking," Daisuke shouted after me. I jumped up onto the roof of a small building and watched him run past. Just in case he would come back I waited on the roof for a few minutes, but when I hopped down Dark was there.

"Running from someone?"

"Nope."

"Really? Well then I'll go get Daisuke."

"Wait no!" I jumped up and grabbed him. "Don't, I don't like to hear others worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"But you cause them to worry, like your father, you just ran away without any clues, or Sasuke when you disappeared in the lower levels of that castle."

"Yeah… Wait how did you know about that?!"

"Ha ha, it's a secret." Dark flew off before I could say anything else.

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I'm thinking of writing a fanfic for my friends so I might slow down a little and I have writers block any ideas are welcome.


	15. To the Village Hidden in the Mist

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 15

I set my alarm clock for the time before Naruto woke up, and when he went into my room, I was hiding in the kitchen making him ramen before I left. I ran out the door grabbing my pack and slinging it onto my back. Daisuke was at the main gates, "Ready to go?"

"Huh, I thought you didn't get assigned a village, let alone the village hidden in the Mist."

"I wasn't, but since I have three days off, I thought I'd tag along with you and help. You would have heard me talk about this if you hadn't run off last night."

"Oh, sorry, I was in a rush to get the last of my supplies." I saw him try to look at the size of the pack to be sure I was telling the truth, so I turned to the side to make it so he couldn't tell.

"So, shall we?"

"Fine, but this seems like something like what Dark would do, not you," I said while walking past him.

"Yeah." Daisuke looked up into the sky as if listening to someone that wasn't there, but then he snapped back. "So, you've been to the village hidden in the Mist before huh?"

"Yeah, I was happy about being assigned the village because I made a friend named Sage and we don't get to hang out much."

"How long does it take to get there?"

"Well, it can take a day if you're not rushing, but if you're running hard like we did when Dark was in our village it can take a few hours."

"I guess we're taking it slow then?"

"Yeah, we have an entire day, so why not take it easy?" We took our time but started to run around noon just to goof off. Eventually we reached the tip of the peninsula and Taki was waiting in his boat. "Taki! How's it going?"

"Busy, yar village is sendin too many kids, war pullin double ta get 'em over."

"Sorry, but can you take us over?"

"Of course, you be a friend."

"Thanks Taki. Oh and this is Daisuke."

"Nice ta meet ya." The ride over was more talkative than when it had been us on the mission. We reached the island around five.

"Thanks again Taki."

"No problem, jus stay safe."

"Got it." Daisuke and I walked to the village, "I'm gonna go find Sage."

"Okay, but you know I'm gonna come with you."

"Fine; you'll just have to keep up." I started towards the village with Daisuke close on my heels. We ran through the maze like I had done with Sage, only I wouldn't be able to run into Sasuke. I finally lost him and ran into the woods where I had met Sage, hoping she would be there. Reaching the clearing, I collapsed from exhaustion. It was 6:30 according to my watch. Sage wasn't in the clearing; I walked back to town alone and a little depressed.

"Tsara, you find your friend?"

"Oh, Daisuke… No, I couldn't find her anywhere."

"That's a shame, but we should focus on finding a place to stay before you go off looking for her again."

"Okay, the others probably made camps all around, since there's no hotel or the like to stay in."

"Where are we staying?"

"Don't worry; I know where we can stay." I lead him to the woods, "No one from our village thought to check in here for a place to stay, so I thought we could use this spot."

"Yeah, it looks awesome, like it hasn't been touched by anyone."

"It hasn't except for Sage coming in here every once in a while. We should pick up all our belongings when we leave, so it stays beautiful."

"Kay, well then, let's set up camp."

"Tsara!" Sage had come to the clearing and came running.

"Hey Sage, I was looking for you. How are you doing?"

"As good as one in this village can do."

"You don't mind us making camp here, do you?"

"Not at all," She said blushing at Daisuke. We started to put up our tents, but Daisuke had trouble with his, "Wait, I'll help you." Sage was blushing again as she helped him.

"Hey Sage, you want to stay here with us tonight?"

"Yeah! I'd love to!" She looked at Daisuke, holding back her blushing, "I don't have a tent though."

"It's okay, my tent is pretty big; you can stay there, or I can sleep outside the tent." Sage decided to sleep outside, but with one of the blankets Daisuke had brought as a spare. We made camp without a fire; to protect the clearings beauty. We all fell asleep shortly after eating some of the things we had brought.


	16. Daisuke's Secret

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 16

In the morning I woke up hearing Daisuke yell. I ran out of my tent, still in my pajamas, just in time to see Daisuke back out of the tent. "What is going on Daisuke?!"

"I woke up and Sage was in there."

"But she was sleeping out here." I pointed to where she had been sleeping, but she wasn't there.

"Well now she's in my tent," He said getting up and dusting himself off. I went into his tent to find Sage curled up in a ball near the pillow Daisuke had been sleeping on.

I shook her and when she woke up she asked, "Where am I?"

"In Daisuke's tent, you chased him out."

"Oh, is he okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be okay after some shock trauma therapy," I said half-laughing. She crawled out of the tent and ran off after saying sorry to Daisuke.

"I wonder why she decided to sleep in a tent; you offered her a spot in yours, so why come into mine?"

"Who knows?" I noticed the clearing was wetter than it would have been with just morning dew, "Hey do you think it might have rained during the night?"

Daisuke looked around noticing the dampness of the clearing, "I guess it did, but that doesn't explain why she picked my tent."

"You mean you didn't notice?"

"Notice what?"

"Sorry, I think she'd tell you if she wanted you to know, so I'll respect her and keep it a secret."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing, I better get ready. Thanks for the wake up call." I went into my tent and got into my battle clothes of a black sleeveless shirt and matching black pants made of the same cotton material as the shirt, and put my long blue hair into a ponytail. "I have to go now," I said as I lifted the tent door and came through it.

"Be careful, if you think you see or hear Krad call Dark using the charm he gave you."

"Yeah yeah, but you know I'll be fine." I walked out of the clearing and met up with Kiba on my way to get a mission. "Hey Kiba, what's up?"

"Nothin, I've just been doin this villages dumb missions for a while." When he finished his statement, his gaze turned to the side as we passed by a group of girls.

"Hey! You're with Liz!"

"What?! How did you know?"

"Puh-lease! Everyone knows; information travels fast in our village." He blushed and stomped off.

My first mission was simple; all I had to do was rescue a kitten from a tree for a little girl. The next mission was more manual labor than the first. I was assigned to a woman whose husband was out of town for a while and needed help with her fields. "Have fun," The man giving out assignments said with a smirk.

I had almost reached the farm when Daisuke jumped out of the woods, "Krad has Sage!"

"What?!"

"He must be using her as the bait to lure you to him."

"Well, it looks like it worked," I shouted as I started running, but I slowed down to a stop. "Might you tell me where he is holding her?"

"Yeah follow me." Daisuke led me around for a while and then stopped.

"It's a good thing we're not there yet, otherwise I'd be too tired to fight."

"I never had that girl, idiot." My head shot up to look at Daisuke, but it was too late and I was hit, being sent backwards into a tree. I jumped up and stared into his eyes which were now golden.

"You're not Daisuke!"

"So now you notice. I am in fact Krad if you hadn't figured that much out." He held his hand up using his magic to lift me, and slowly the powers began to constrict around me. I gasped; feeling the magic tighten around my neck, _he's trying to choke me off._

"Drop her!" Dark came through the woods and hit Krad, causing him to drop me. I let out a sigh of relief as I hit the ground, but I couldn't rest long; Dark shot Krad in my direction. I rolled on to my back and hit Krad up with my feet. Dark chased after him, and hit Krad with a blast from a black feather. Dark and Krad exchanged punches and kicks for a few minutes, but I jumped in when Dark was hit back and fell to the ground unconscious. I fought Krad off with magic blasts twice the size and strength of the ones I used in our last battle; he was caught off guard and had to give up and fly away.

I fell to the ground on my knees and took deep breaths. I didn't even bother to look at Dark, but when I had caught my breath I turned to look. Instead of Dark, Daisuke was on the ground where Dark had been. Nothing registered in my mind until I realized I still had to help the woman on her farm. I used my magic to be sure Daisuke would be fine if I left, and I ran off in the direction of the woman's farm.

"You're late," The woman said when I finally arrived.

"Sorry, but something came up, and well, yeah I know I'm late." I saw she didn't want to hear any excuses.

The rest of the day went without any problems, and when the day was over, I fell into my sleeping bag. Daisuke opened the flap to my tent, "You okay?"

"Uhn."

"Umm, I need a definite answer."

"Yeah, I'm fine, a little sore, but fine."

I gave him a weak smile, but he could see through it, "What happened today?"

"Oh, you know, fighting." I looked down at the ground trying to avoid his gaze. _I know how I can test if he's Dark or not. _"Hey Daisuke, I'm gonna call Dark."

"Oh, well then I'll leave you."

"No, no, you can stay here it won't be long."

"But I really think I should leave you to talk to him alone," He said with haste in his voice.

I took off the necklace with the trinket and started to put my magic into it. Daisuke started inching back through the flap just as I finished putting my power into the trinket and he started beeping. He ran out the flap to the outside a few seconds before Dark answered, "Hullo?"

"Dark?"

"Oh, hi Tsaralan." I looked through a small opening where the flap hadn't closed all the way. Dark was where Daisuke had been standing.

"Don't call me that!" I slowly went out the back of the tent and headed towards Daisuke's tent.

"Why?" I had reached Daisuke's tent and looked inside… no Daisuke.

"Uh, I hate it." I was slowly paying less attention to the conversation.

"Fine, but what do you need?"

"Huh, oh, yeah, umm, no reason, just had to be sure you were okay after that fight." I hid behind my tent and watched Dark.

"Oh, I'm fine. Well, I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah." Dark ended the call, and turned into Daisuke. "Daisuke you can come back I'm done talking."

"Kay." He bent down and went into the tent without seeing me. I came in the back three seconds after he went in.

"Hey Dark," I said angrily with my arms crossed.

"What?"

"You know what I mean, I saw you change from Dark into you." I kicked him out of my tent and fell asleep.

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The battle clothes are what I wore on the before mission to save Mirabel. _Italics are going to be my new way of inner thoughts._


	17. Memories

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 17

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling pressure on my stomach. I opened my eyes to see a shadowy figure sitting on my stomach. Fear surged through my body when I tried to struggle free but found I was frozen in place. "Help," was all I could muster after finding my voice had left me. The figure held up a feather and then everything went blank.

I jumped up out of my sleeping bag with cold sweat breaking out all over me. "Must've been just a dream."

"Hey Tsara!" I jumped at the sound of Daisuke's voice. He stared hard at my face to check for signs of something, but he turned away and said, "So, you ready to head back?"

"Uh, I will be once I get packed." With that Daisuke left me to get packed. As I was packing I picked up my diary that I write in every night. Daisuke was waiting so I shoved it into my pack and came out of my tent. When I stood up and stretched my legs I saw him staring at me again before he started to help me take down my tent.

We left the village saying goodbye to Sage and I told her I'd bring Daisuke back sometime which caused her to blush. Daisuke was scary quiet on the trip back, _he's hiding something._

We reached the village early even though we were taking it slow and Naruto freaked when he saw us. "Hey guys, welcome back! Once Sakura and Sasuke get back do you wanna come with us and get ramen."

"Su-," I started but Naruto cut me off.

"Daisuke! You were supposed to stay here and have fun!"

"Yeah, but I felt like having more adventure so I went with Tsara."

"Naruto, I'll get ramen when the others get back but for now I feel like resting back at the apartment."

"Aww, okay I'll come and get you when they get here."

"Got it." I walked back, noticing Daisuke following me, and locked the door to both the apartment and my room. Unpacking my things I took my diary and leafed through it to find the entry from yesterday since my memory was hazy. "What this can't be!" I flipped the page to be sure I wasn't missing anything. "But I can't remember any of this. How can I not remember tricking Dark or Daisuke or… I don't know, but still I've never written any lies in here. Only I ever look in it so why should I lie. If I felt like writing a story I would've torn a page out or even used my other journal. This is just too weird."

Naruto knocked on my door, "Hey, Sasuke and Sakura are back, let's go get some ramen!"

"Kay, I'll be right out!" _Wait that dream. Maybe it was real and Dark was trying to make me forget. I don't know all the powers of that feather so it could erase minds right?_

"Tsara! Hurry up!"

"Oh, sorry Naruto." I opened the door and he dragged me to the ramen shop while my mind wandered. _That's why Daisuke was staring at me all day; he was seeing if I could remember what happened._ We reached the ramen shop and I stared at Daisuke the same way he had stared at me in the morning.

I caught myself, thinking he might erase my memory again, and came up with an excuse, "Umm, payback for staring this morning." Sasuke glared at Daisuke with one of his 'you will die' glares and I had to suppress a giggle.

"Oh, was I staring sorry."

"No prob. So what happened during our adventures?"

Sasuke responded first with, "Nothing much; just missions for the weak."

We all agreed with, "Same."

I wasn't focusing on my ramen, but thinking about Daisuke being Dark. _Maybe I'll tell him I know again. But he might erase my memory and take the diary so I won't be able to remember again…_ "Tsara?" _Maybe I could tell him and then put a seal on my room so he can't get in, ah, but he could still get me when I'm out of my room… _"Tsara!?" _I know I'll put the seal on myself so he couldn't touch me, no, no, no, I wouldn't be able to use my magic and Daisuke could still get close enough to take the seal off so Dark could get close. _"TSARA!?"

I snapped back to reality, "Huh, what?"

Sasuke had been trying to get my attention, "Tsara, are you okay?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You look preoccupied with something that is painful to remember."

"Don't worry about it." By now even Naruto had finished his ramen and we were starting back to our homes.

Sasuke caught me before Daisuke could, "You want to go around town for a while?"

"S-sure." Sasuke lead us to the outside of town and through the woods. We reached the clearing where I had lived not even a month ago, but I didn't show this to Sasuke.

"Tsara?"

"Hmm?"

"I… I mean… Do you like me?"

"Huh?!" I started to blush, grateful for my long hair to hide my red face (A defense I don't have anymore!).

"I'm sorry, I won't ask…"

I cut him off, "Yeah!"

"What?"

"I do like you!"

"That's great."

I started to blush harder and turn to head back, but Sasuke stopped me. He turned me around and pushed his lips against mine. Somehow I felt myself grow redder. "Sasuke…"

He stopped me, "S-Sasuke-kun."

I blushed as the new name fumbled out of my mouth, "Sasuke-kun… Our first non-accidental kiss."

"Yeah." I could tell he wasn't going to get used to the name too soon either.

"Should I still call you Sasuke-kun even when we're with the squad?"

"Sure," He grimaced knowing there might be some problems at the beginning, but it would blow over soon enough.

"Well, we should head back now." I didn't bother to point out the fact that Dark was hiding in a tree. I felt my legs grow weak, and when we started to walk I tripped. Sasuke picked me up when I realized I couldn't get up and he carried me as if I weighed nothing. He set me on my feet at the door and I fumbled with the lock and key. When I finally opened the door he kissed me one more time, and I walked in. I sighed and leaned against the closed door. My legs started to feel flimsy again so I rushed to my room and sat on my bed.

There was a noise outside my room, so I struggled to my feet and peered out… Dark. I closed my door and got out the elements needed to perform a seal to protect my room. Once my room had been sealed I felt weaker and fell asleep in my travel clothing on top of my blankets.

_I'm going to write my messages in italics at the top or bottom of the chapter because I'm getting tired of putting a line of o's and then writing. Yes, I know I've never mentioned Tsara having a diary, but this is the diary of Tsara Shikamuno, but what I put here is not what Tsara actually puts.(I know I don't make much sense.)_


	18. The Retrieval

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 18

"Good-day."

"Good-day, what brings a powerful man like yourself from Jarene to our humble village?"

"Our princess has gone missing and she was due for a wedding with the prince of Kurunan. We have reason to believe she is hiding in this village under an alias."

"Oh, well, what is her name and we will use all of our powers to find her."

"Tsaralan Shianunon."

-

I walked to school with my new boyfriend. "Did you make it to bed alright Tsara?"

"Yeah, but I would have slept better if I had enough energy to change out of my travel clothes."

Sakura met up with us with, cheer filling her to the brim, but that cheer would die soon. "Hey guys!"

"Hey Sakura," Sasuke and I said at the same time.

"Do you guys know what we're doing in class today?"

"Umm, I don't know; Sasuke-kun do you know?"

"I…"

He was cut off by Sakura yelling, "What do you mean 'Sasuke-kun' it's not like you two are together." She could tell by the fact that we started blushing and didn't say anything that we _were_ together. "How did this happen!? Just yesterday he was just Sasuke to you but now he's Sasuke-kun." She stormed off, the cheer from earlier completely evaporated.

We arrived at the school and all the girls stared at me with anger in their eyes, and the guys congratulated Sasuke. The bell rang and everyone filed into the room. A man in green came in and told Iruka something I couldn't hear. "Tsara, you are wanted in the office." Everyone started making noises as a joke when I got up and walked down to the door.

I stepped out of the room and I was jumped by the man who had delivered the message and another man who came with him but who hid in the hall; he covered my mouth to keep me from screaming and put an arm around my hips to keep me in place. "Hello missy, you're due back in Jarene for a wedding."

I looked back and pushed his hand away from my mouth to gasp, "Ento!" Ento had stone grey hair, and matching eyes. His clothing was highly decorated, as it should if you are one of the king's men.

"I see you remember me, but you shouldn't know him; he's going to be your new husband." The man waved and blew me a kiss. "Pontel is his name." He looked like Mirabel with his short, dark brown hair and his grey eyes; he was even wearing green travel clothes, the color matching the green gown Mirabel was wearing when I first saw her.

"I can not wait for us to be wed."

I started to shake before responding, "I'll pass on that offer, thank you very much."

"Oh, but you have no choice in the matter," Ento told me still keeping his arm around my waist to keep me from running.

"Too bad for you! I'm already with someone."

"Guess you'll have to say goodbye to him then. Now today will be your last day so finish it on a high note!"

"What makes you think I'll go with you?"

"We have men stationed all around this village to capture you if you resist."

"I'll still try, so you better get ready once school lets out." I walked into the room with as much enthusiasm as I could and took my seat glaring at the head poking through the door. The class stared at me or Ento with questioning looks. The lunch-bell rang and they all ran to ask me what had happened, since Ento disappeared, disappointing those who wanted to ask him.

Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and I all sat near the oak tree; I was sitting with my back against the tree in a way that would make it easy to move out of the way of the man hiding in the tree. "Naruto, Sakura, do you mind if I speak with Sasuke-kun alone?"

"Sure, we'll give you two your privacy," Sakura said with tension in her voice.

They both left and Sasuke asked, "What's wrong?"

I sighed and answered, "After school, men from Jarene are going to take me away to marry Mirabel's brother."

Sasuke started to laugh but after seeing the look on my face he knew it was true. "But you aren't from that place, how can you marry for that land?"

"I am from that place; I ran away and hid in this village. I was hoping you'd help, but I can't say my plans when one of Ento's clones is hiding in the tree." He looked up and the clone waved.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"I was worried my secret would get around and then they would come to retrieve me."

"You should've trusted _us_ at least, but even more me!"

"I'm s-" Sasuke got up and walked to where Naruto and Sakura were before I could finish. He said a few words to them and I saw Sakura's glare with Naruto's sympathetic look at both Sasuke and me.

"Guess now there's nothing left here for you." The Ento clone had watched the scene play out with a grin on his face.

"I'm not done yet," I said through gritted teeth. The bell rang and we went inside but Sasuke didn't even glance at me when I came to walk next to him. He actually inched away from me. _I deserve it. I've kept a secret from them, all of them. I should have at least told him. Well, no more secret life, I'm going to tell them all at the end of class and welcome them to watch the fight that will give me a chance at freedom._ "Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes Tsara?"

"Can I say something to the class about five minutes before the day is over?"

"Sure; what do you need to say?"

"You'll find out." I went and took an open seat in the first row. I couldn't focus on the lesson because I was trying to figure out what to say.

Five-minutes before the class's end Iruka reminded me that I had something to say, "Tsara, come up here and tell us what you need to."

I slowly got up from my seat and went to the front of the classroom, "Hey… everyone. I wanted to tell you all that today may be my last day here at the academy. Actually, today may be my last day here in the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

Kiba asked while the class just stared, "What are you talking about?"

I took a deep breath and continued, "I am Princess Tsaralan Shianunon; I ran away from my home in Jarene to escape a marriage to prince Pontel of Kurunan. Today, one of my father's men came to retrieve me. I will not go down without a fight and I welcome you all to watch from inside." The bell rang, breaking the silence that had fallen after my speech. I walked out into the hall and broke into a sprint to the yard. I reached it just as Ento revealed himself and his clones.

"Ready to give up?"

"Never! I'm going to keep on fighting until the end!"

"Suit yourself." The clones started running at me and I jumped up.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" My clones started to appear and land around Ento.

"I'm sure you haven't gotten stronger in the time you've been here so it shouldn't be too hard." Ento's clones and my clones clashed and started a huge battle while I jumped up onto a nearby streetlamp. Ento jumped up onto a streetlamp opposite of mine.

"You'd be surprised; I've grown a lot since I ran away." He shot kunai at me but when it hit the mark the clone that was on the post disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Tricky little thing." I was controlling the clones from the roof of the academy. I sent one of the clones around the post Ento was on and had her shoot a kunai at him. He disappeared just as my clone had.

I hissed under my breath, "Where are you?"

"Aw are you looking for me? That's so sweet," A voice from behind whispered in my ear. I tried to jump out of the way but he hit me from the back and I fell off the roof, unconscious. One of Ento's clones caught me when I reached the ground. Everyone who would have helped was still in the room and couldn't reach me before Ento took me away.

Sadly, Mr. Mopey Pants Sasuke wasn't watching and couldn't know what was the outcome of the battle.


	19. To Jarene

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 19

I woke up strung over the shoulders of a horse with my hands tied together. Getting used to my situation, I felt an arm holding me tight around my shoulders, and when I looked up I saw Ento's face under a cloak. "I'm guessing I lost."

Ento didn't reply; he just kept staring ahead between the horse's ears. The horse jumped and the clatter of tack came from behind us. I struggled and managed to see behind us, Pontel was riding a horse behind us with Nashiki, my horse, tied to his. His horse, Gantem, had a look of 'biting' accomplishment on his face. Pontel saw me looking and rode up beside us, "Hello my princess. I do hope you are comfortable."

I ignored him and stared back at Nashiki. "Here baby," I cooed in the baby voice I saved just for her. She perked up and trotted lightly to the other side of Kani, Ento's horse. Her angle would only allow her to nuzzle my back, but she was happy nonetheless.

"Away beast." Ento seemed more grumpy than usual. He hit Nashiki on her nose causing her to recoil with a look of wanting revenge in her bright eyes.

"I know you are doing your best to ignore me, but I wanted to say, tis a good thing you did not cry, for it melts my heart."

I stared at him with an evil smirk and started to wail and cry at the top of my lungs. Usually I could keep such things up for a few minutes without difficulty breathing, but this time I could only yell for a few seconds before becoming breathless. I had to gasp for air before searching for the reason of my breathlessness. Ento had moved his arm from my shoulder to my waist and started to press, lowering my lung capacity. "Ento, you might want to tread lightly," Pontel warned him.

"I'll be fine as I am," Ento said gruffly with impatience in his voice.

I smiled at Pontel as thanks for giving me an idea. "You should listen to the man." Light flickered in my eyes as I called upon my powers. Pontel snickered as he figured out what I had started to do. The stirrups and girth on Ento's saddle started to move and he shifted at the perfect time. The saddle slipped off Kani's back and the stirrups tangled around his feet kept him from getting back up. When I messed with the saddle, I had also undone the knot on the rope around my wrists. The ropes came off all the way and I switched over to Nashiki's back and kicked her in the direction opposite of the way we were headed.

When I was out of hearing distance Pontel and Ento grinned at each other. "Good idea riding out and then back towards her village."

"She gets predictable after some time. We shall set out after an hour to make sure she does not turn back." Ento watched through the branches the shadow of a bird fly in my direction.

-

"Thank goodness they had you carry supplies." I usually talked to Nashiki when I was alone. We had made camp in a cave that was well hidden in a cliff. "How have they been treating you since I was gone?"

She whinnied in a happy response.

"That's good." I heard steps outside and I jumped up with a kunai at hand.

The figure stepped into view and I got into a throwing position. "Hey Tsaralan," Dark's voice echoed in the small cave.

I sighed and relaxed my muscles, "Hey Dark. What brings you out here?"

"The fact that you were taken away from my protection, Mrs. Sasuke-kun." He said with a sarcastic tone.

"I'm heading back now so you don't have to worry."

"Yeah, heading back to Jarene!"

"What; how?!"

"They rode out and started towards the village again before you woke up. They knew you would change directions when you escaped!"

"You gotta be kidding me!" I scrambled to pick up what I had unloaded.

I reached for Nashiki, but Dark stopped me, "That's not your horse; they had someone disguise themselves as her to make sure you didn't get into trouble." I stared at the horse and realized he was right. "I'll take you back."

"Thanks," I said still staring at the replacement. Dark took me outside of the cave and held me close as he lifted off of the ground and into the air. I looked down at the cave and saw Carmel, the replacement, run out. He shot a kunai up and hit Dark's wing causing us to plummet to the ground.

"Shoot," He growled through his teeth. We crashed into the forest, luckily missing the hard, sharp branches. The ground seemed too hard, but it might have been the fact that Dark landed on top of me. I opened my eyes just in time to see a white feather float down and disappear when it hit the cold earth.

"That feather. Wait Dark's is black not white… Uh oh!" I pushed Krad off of my back and took a few steps back.

He started to give out a deep laugh that sent cold shivers of fear down my spine. "I tried to keep a hold on that thing but I guess I couldn't keep it hidden for long." I started to turn to run but Nashiki's replacement was there.

"Good job, I'm sure his highness made the right choice hiring you." He turned from facing Krad to me, "Now come along miss, your birthday is coming soon and there are many preparations that need to be taken care of before the wedding day."

"I don't understand why it has to be so soon and… Wait, Krad you were hired?"

"Yes, your mother hired me shortly after our first meeting. It's quite a story your father told me after I spoke with her. It must be taxing to use magic all day to hide those ears and tail from her."

"Yeah, well, I've had tons of training to make it not so taxing. Now if you don't mind I'm going back home."

"I see you've come to your senses miss. I shall carry you the way to Jarene."

"Tch, I'm not going back there; I'm going home to the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"Oh," He said before he turned into Nashiki again.

"You must not understand what I'm saying; I'm not going back to Jarene!" Krad took a step forward and I realized what was happening. We ran around the clearing for a few minutes before Krad finally caught me and put me to sleep. He slung me over Carmel's back like I was a sack and jumped on. Carmel started off at a gallop towards Jarene.

After some amount of time I woke up and I could see the pillars marking the bridge across the ravine. Between the pillars I could see the towering main castle.

_Horrible writers block especially right when we fall into the forest, I had no idea of what to write. I know what the ending will be like but getting there is hard. _


	20. First Day Back at Jarene

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 20

I sat up a little more and saw Agro holding up my father, Tukuno. I sighed and felt Krad's hand hold me in place. Tukuno slipped off Agro and came up to us on foot, "Are you alright Tsaralan? That journey must have been tough, why don't you go to your chambers to rest."

I didn't respond; I knew better than to speak back to the king, even if he was my father and he called me Tsaralan. Krad moved his hand and I slipped off Carmel. My father put his hand on my shoulder but I shrugged it off and walked between the pillars and onto the bridge. Carmel reared up and Krad fell off her back. She transformed and ran up to walk behind me.

"I'd rather go back alone, and it's not like I can run away now."

Carmel slowed to a stop and watched me walk away. "Carmel, Krad, did either of you see Ento and Pontel?"

"No sir."

"I flew over them on my way towards the girl, but they should have met up with us by now."

-

"Jesus Christ! Run!" Ento's voice echoed through the empty forest.

"Where's Tsara?!" A voice rang through the forest after Ento's.

"She ran off! We have someone with her to keep her safe, if you're worried about her protection." Pontel whimpered.

"Where's she heading!" The voice said more annoyed.

"Jarene!" Pontel and Ento yelled at the same time.

"I knew that; which direction?!"

"That way!" Ento pointed a finger in the direction of Jarene.

"Thanks." There was a thud as both of the men were thrown to the ground at the same time.

-

"Your bath is ready miss."

"Like I care."

"I'm sure you'll feel better after a long bath."

"Look, I'm not taking a bath; I'd rather die than be clean for that man."

"Which man, your father or your husband?"

"He's not my husband."

"Oh, well, you can take a bath because he's not here. Ento and 'that man' are lost in the woods." I let out a laugh and looked out the window in my room to look at the woods where they were lost.

"Then, I'll go take a bath, and could you bring my food to my chambers; I don't feel like seeing anyone else."

"Yes ma'am." I finished my bath quickly and sat back at the window to keep an eye out for Pontel and Ento. _If I see them I'll climb out my window and scale down like last time. I still have enough of the mixture to use again. When they come out it's time to say nighty-night. _The servant came back with the night's meal and left me to eat. I absently ate, still watching for the two men. _They probably got lost the idiots. Hey, more relax time that's all right._

A new servant came in, "Miss, your father wishes for your attendance at dinner. Your mother is there as well; her exact words were 'Go fetch my favorite daughter.' Your dresses have been exchanged for new better fitting ones; you are required to wear them to dinner."

"I know; I haven't been gone that long."

"True, but I thought just in case."

"Yeah, well thanks anyway." I shooed her out of the room and opened the wardrobe with the dresses in it. I let out a sigh, _Ugh, frilly things, why must it always be frilly things? Why can't there ever be just a plain dress. _Reluctantly, I put on a navy blue dress with the fewest flowers and ribbons out of the entire selection and walked to the main hall. On the way I cloaked my ears and tail with my magic.

"Ah, there she is," Tukuno said to my mother and a boy with short, blue hair and matching eyes.

Sara, my mother, got up and hugged me, saying, "My, you've grown. You look beautiful in that dress if I may say so."

"Tsaralan," I almost winced hearing my father call me… almost. "This is Satoshi."

He gestured to the boy and I greeted him as all princesses should… "Yo."

"He is Krad's tamer." I felt my hands clench and a glare creep across my face as I turned my gaze from Satoshi to Tukuno.

"If you'll excuse me now, father, mother, I have somewhere I have to be," I turned around and started for the door.

"Tsaralan, don't you want to excuse yourself from all of us?"

I sighed and turned around and bowed, "Excuse me as well Satoshi." With that I left in a foul mood which scared the servants scurrying around; most could remember my tantrums as a child which destroyed many rooms in the palace when I still couldn't fully control my powers.

My normal clothes of jeans and a T-shirt were hidden so the servants couldn't throw them away; I changed into them and stalked down the halls. I walked trying to hide using my magic and the shadows. Eventually, I made it to the stables. The stables were always clean for both the people and the horses that inhabited it. What I was looking for wasn't in its place, so I expanded my walk to the pastures.

My target was grazing peacefully in the royal meadow. I whistled and then talked in the special voice, "Here Nashiki."

She perked up just as Carmel had before, raising a suspicion of a replacement again. "If you're not Nashiki go away." I talked in my normal voice and Nashiki looked at me with a look of _Are you crazy or something?_ "Sorry baby, here." I fed her a carrot I had swiped from the kitchen on my way to the stables and she gave me a grateful whinny and a soft nuzzle.

A servant came up and offered to tack Nashiki up for me, but I told her to bring the tack and a few brushes and that I would take it from there. The servant left with a bow and returned shortly with her arms full of supplies.

I brushed Nashiki's coat until it was glossy and then I put on her saddle and bridle and all the other tack that was brought. Once Nashiki had everything on, I looked down and saw a breastplate that had the family crest on it, "Yeah, right." I jumped up onto her back and took her to the family woods, making sure I kicked up dirt onto the plate when I jumped up. Just before I reached the forest's edge the servant asked if I would like to leave a message.

"Yes, tell Tukuno, and only him, I will be 'relaxing' in the woods and not to disturb me when I get back." Everyone in the palace knew our use of 'relax' as the time when I don't use my magic to hide my ears and tail; it was mainly used so my mother wouldn't catch on to our secret. The servant ran of to deliver the message and to do whatever else her jobs were.

Nashiki walked through the woods with pride in her step until we reached the river, which then was her time to be de-saddled and play in the water. We romped through the water until it was sweat we were more coated in than the river water. At that point we sat and soaked in the water until we had relaxed ourselves.

I had cooled off and started to stand when Nashiki grew tense. "What's wrong baby."

She didn't react at all, which worried me. I stood and got closer to my saddlebags with kunai in it. Nashiki turned around and looked opposite of the last point she stared at. She inched closer and nudged me toward the supplies. I took a step in the direction she was pushing me, but a band of men jumped out and started for us.

They took out knives and reached for me, but that was what caused their loss. Light flickered in my eyes as the water stopped flowing down the riverbed; it inched around the men and entangled them in ropes of water. "Have a safe trip, you pieces of scum." I threw the men and water back down the river and saddled up and left, not noticing the red eyes of a sharingan watching me.

Back at the palace, I turned Nashiki over to a servant for I was too tired, and I started for my rooms. Apparently, the message hadn't been digested fully by Tukuno, who started bothering me the second I walked in. Ignoring him, I stumbled to my room, _this place sucks; I wish I could go back to the village. _I changed out of my clothes and hid them carefully and changed into my sleeping-gown. _Just another dress they force me to wear, all frilly and cute, ugh, can you say 'tomboy?' _I sat on the bed staring at the window, _Where are they, are Ento and Pontel really that lost._

-

"Someone help!" Pontel yelled again. Ento and Pontel were tied thoroughly to a tree.

"Oh, be quiet, they'll send out search parties soon enough."

-

I fell on my side still on the bed and fell into a sleep.

_Agro is the name of your horse in the game Shadow of the Colossus, it's awesome. Satoshi is from DN Angel. (I can't remember his full name.) I think this was my longest chapter yet, I'm so tired. _


	21. I Give Up

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 21

I woke before dawn, jumping at the touch of a hand on my shoulder. "Relax, it's me Satoshi."

"Get… Out." My ears were back as I mumbled.

"Why? I'm trying to say something."

"Don't make me go spider-monkey on your…"

"As I was trying to say, I have no control over Krad, so don't hold a grudge."

"Krad needs you to be here so I blame you for his being and not being able to contain him."

"So what, he's not here now!"

I used my magic to catapult him out of my quarters because all I knew was that I was tired and I didn't want to be bugged. I got under the covers again and stared at the ceiling, "Darn it Satoshi! Now I can't get back to sleep!" I jumped up and walked out of the room still in my nightgown to get revenge for waking me up too early. I walked out at looked up and down the hall acting clueless, but as I turned to go back into my room light flicked into my eyes and the ceiling above me shifted a little and Satoshi came to the ground as I stepped through the doorway. "Take that as a lesson to not wake me up." I took a step back and closed the door.

Satoshi wouldn't give up and spoke through the door, "I came on official business; your father is worried about Ento and Pontel so he is going out with a search party. You have been invited to help, but it isn't so much of an invitation as an order."

I sighed and turned the latch so the door was locked. The palace mages could easily unlock the door and force me onto the trip to find Pontel and Ento. I walked to where I hid things to keep the servants away from them, and picked up my clothes and a small vial half filled with an almost clear liquid. From there I went and changed into my clothes and opened the window, "Pachamama, lend me your strength." I sat on the wall that formed the bottom of the window, took in a deep breath, and jumped. _I made this jump last time, I can do it again._ I landed on the roof of a small tower and started running on impact. I jumped off the tower and landed with a soft tap on the roof of the servant's quarters. I stopped and looked up, Satoshi was watching with great attention through my open window.

"How the?" _The door was locked, how could he have gotten in. _

"You'll need this!" He tossed me a necklace with a red gem at the center of it. "It works like the one Dark gave you!"

"Thanks, but keep it down, it's not exactly the safest time or place to be yelling during my escape plan," I hissed in a whisper.

"Yeah, yeah just get to work with whatever it is you're doing."

"Thanks again." _I guess he's not that bad after all. _I jumped off the roof and left for the center of town.

-

"Now that wasn't so hard," Krad's voice filled my room. "Wherever she goes we'll know."

Satoshi fought with Krad for control and managed to get out the sentence, "It's not fair she thinks it was me who did it, when I was being forced to watch this plan come together."

Krad overpowered Satoshi and said, "It's fair; you just aren't strong enough to stop me. I'm glad we had this little chat, but now it's time I finish up the plans to steal her magic."

-

Reaching my destination where all the water sources connect, I dumped what was left in the vial into the water. _The sleeping potion took effect in about an hour after people woke up in the morning last time I used it. _

After finishing my business I went back to the castle and practically ran back to my rooms. A servant was standing in my room panicking over the fact that I had left without her knowing. "Oh my, oh dear, she must've run off again."

"Or I just went out for a while." She whipped around and started to cry with joy. _Jeez, everyone here is too spastic._

"Your father is preparing to go out to find your betrothed and you should be too."

Trying to stall I said, "But there is still so much to do for the wedding!"

"There won't be a wedding unless there is a groom. Now get dressed and I will prepare Nashiki." I sighed, knowing it was useless to argue against a servant with direct orders from the king.

I changed into my riding clothes and hid my normal outfit and left for the stables. _Give it time the potion'll kick in soon. Soon, just, relax. _Even after saying these things I could still feel my muscles tense up. I jumped onto Nashiki's back when the servant brought her to me.

"There was some dirt on the breastplate so I had it cleaned." Sure enough the plate was where it was always worn. _Bury it next time, darn you! _

Tukuno was sitting on Agro waiting for me to join him. _Start working you stupid potion! _"We flushed out the water today," He said, noticing I was glaring at the ground. I looked up and gave the glare to him. "Krad is a good lookout."

I took off at a canter towards the woods, feeling the two crystals from Dark and Satoshi hit each other on their separate chains. _Satoshi! I thought I could trust him; why didn't he tell me that Krad was going to be watching. Oh well I'm going back to the village no matter what._ I had Nashiki dodging through the trees and a high speed that she couldn't keep it up much longer.

"Relax, I'll take it slow now." _It's not like we'll get far; the least I can do is find the idiots and hide them or even better kill them. Darn I forgot my spiky mace. _Eventually I reached a clearing; Ento and Pontel were asleep and tied to a tree. I couldn't help but to laugh at them. Even better Ento was tied upside-down. "That's what you get."

Pontel woke up and stared at me for a second and then realized who I was. "My dear! Please untie us." I giggled and prodded Nashiki forward, out of the clearing.

"Don't worry they'll come soon." I muttered before vanishing into the forest again.

Before I made it too far into the woods, Krad was flying overhead. He swooped down and landed in front of Nashiki causing her to rear up, almost knocking me off. When Nashiki finally settled enough to stand, Krad had her by the reigns. I was about to slide off her back, when Tukuno and the rest of the search party came into view with Pontel and Ento riding lazily on the backs of other men's horses.

"Come, my daughter," Tukuno said with a hint a disappointment in his voice. "Clearly you will not stay put long enough to prepare for the wedding, so we'll just have to finish the preparations tonight and hold the wedding at sunset tomorrow."

I couldn't take it all in and just stared blankly at Tukuno. When it set in I tried to come up with an excuse, "But father, umm," I looked around for something to use and my eyes rested upon the exhausted Pontel. "Pontel is in no condition to be wed so soon."

"We have healers back at the palace and he can sleep it off during the day."

Not giving up I added, "But Ento is too tired and who is to say that I will not run in the night?"

Tukuno sat for a moment and thought, "Krad will guard you tonight." _I'm out of excuses. This isn't going to end the way I had hoped. _

I took the reigns from Krad and rode Nashiki past the party who made a path so I could return to the palace. "I give up."

"Beg your pardon," Tukuno asked thinking it was an insult.

I nearly shouted, "I give up. There are no more ways I can think of to escape; I'm tired and I just can't go on. That's why I give up trying to run from all of this!" I noticed warm tears starting to stream down my face and I sent Nashiki off at the fastest she could go.

_Pachamama is something Carlito says in the game "Dead Rising" it means something along the lines of Mother Earth, it's been a while since I heard the characters explain but that's what I think they said. It's fun to say it fast, but I'll stop rambling. _


	22. Not Alone

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 22

Nashiki was glad to have the servants take her away after a long time of running hard. "Tell the party I'm out and I won't be back for a while," I said walking towards the palace.

"I'm sorry but I cannot lie to my master." I gritted my teeth and continued forward.

Once I reached my rooms, I closed the door with a loud slam of combined wood and magic hitting a wall. _I think I'll give them something to spaz about for a while._ I almost tore my normal clothes when I picked them up out of the hiding place. I grabbed a pack and stuffed the clothes into it plus a brush, some soap and a scrubber. I took another pair of clothes out of the hiding spot and put them on under a sky blue cloak that hid what I was wearing.

Pulling the hood of the cloak over my head I left the palace and snuck into the city. I reached an alley near the heart of the city, and used my magic to disguise myself as another person. I took off the cloak that hid my 'commoner' clothes and left for the public washhouse.

I walked in and one of the helpers asked if I needed anything, but since I had been here a million times before I told her I would be fine as politely as possible. I walked down the hall and turned left and put my normal clothes in the care of one of the helpers to wash. I went across the hall to the individual baths and put my pack off in a locker, taking out the soap and scrubber because you never know what's clean or not. Choosing an empty room, I sunk down into the water a sighed as my muscles started to relax in the hot bath.

"I'll head back in an hour or so. That'll give them enough time to freak. I need to do some shopping so that will turn out well."

I finished up after a while and picked up my clothes from the helper and put them back into the pack, away from the wet soap and scrubber. Before leaving, I ran the brush through my hair briskly.

I went to the local market and looked to see what they had. One shop had all kinds of animals from common dogs to platypus bears to baby moose lions. It's hard to resist the cuteness of animals so I had to spend a few minutes playing with them.

The next shop I visited was far from the marketplace, the reagent shop. I looked into the shop and saw no one. "Hello Pashen. I see you've gotten a new stock of lanto roots."

"Haha, you guessed it, and I'll have you know that you can't have any. They're the main part of my invisibility potion."

"I know; you never sell that stuff unless it's urgent business that is needed by the military. I'm here for some warlin leaves and sembal nuts."

"Same amount as last time?"

"No, that was for a sleeping potion, this time it's for a poison."

"Who's the attempt on this time?"

"No one really; it's a backup plan in case I change my mind."

"Okey dokey then." Pashen disappeared into the back of the shop to get the supplies. I walked around slowly, looking in all the jars. Some jars earned disgusting looks from me as I saw their contents.

Eventually Pashen returned with a huge bushel of leaves and a jar of seeds. "How much?"

"Enough for one sintra poison."

"Oh, that's a mighty strong potion. Who's it going to?"

"I said before, it's just in case."

"I know but still, I want to know who I'll be killing 'just in case." He gave me a small smirk and waited for a reply.

I held off for a second and said, "I'll tell you after I get my supplies."

"I guess that's as close as I will get for now." He got measurements of the leaves and nuts and passed them over, looking at me intensely.

Sighing, I told him, "Myself." I picked up the materials and left the shop quietly, putting the materials in my pack.

I reached the castle and was swarmed by the entire staff plus a few complete strangers. They herded me back to the castle and handed me over to Krad. "Have fun?"

"You know it!" I started to laugh a little but he stared at me until I was quiet. "Sorry, I'll head to my rooms."

"You better, since they're waiting to take the measurements." He started to trail off and look away.

"Jeez, it's not like I'm doing it in front of your face." I stormed off, unable to see kraD… change. (Pay attention to the capitalization hint hint)

My room was packed with servants plus the royal seamstress. They walked me to a step and started taking measurements for the dress while I stared out the window. I let my eyes go out of focus and jumped when a black with blue blur swooped past the glass. One of the servants stuck me with a pin when I jumped and I yelped.

The servants froze like deer staring into headlights and I kept looking at the window telling myself _No, no, it wasn't. Relax, it's over, hope is gone._ I snapped back and realized the servant who had stuck me was cowering in a corner and the rest were waiting at the door to run.

When I was little, anyone who stuck me was hurt and so they were expecting to hear me yell and to see flames trickle from my hands. This time they all stared with question and fear in their eyes. _Wow, I was really bad as a child._

"Relax, I've grown maybe not enough to not run away but enough not to hurt someone for an accident." Still, they stared. "Get over here and finish before I decide to hurt you for _that_." They all jumped up and continued their work, the one servant still reluctant to move. "Get over here, and relax, I'm fine." I gave her a small smile trying to build her confidence, but she still wouldn't move. I sighed and continued to try to relax her, "Just go ahead and leave; I'm sure you have other duties." She scrambled to her feet and out the door. The rest of the servants stared intensely at their work and finished quickly.

_The craziness will end after the wedding, just deal with it for now and it will be fine. _My inner voice quickly snapped, when have they never been crazy?I replaced my clothes and walked the hallways slowly, before kraD stopped me and pinned me to a wall in a small hall. (That rhymed , sorry ONWARD!)

"Relax will ya?" I was struggling, thinking of all the possibilities.

I calmed myself enough to glare at him and say, "Want something?"

"Nothing really, I just thought you might want to know I'm not Krad." He released me and stepped back…

"Dark!" I jumped forward and hugged him in relief and anger. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Dark jumped and pushed me against the wall again and covered my mouth.

"Quiet. To them I'm still Krad; if they find me, we're both in trouble," Dark whispered.

"You mean _we're_ both in trouble as in me and you or Daisuke and you?"

Dark stared and was stuttering when he spoke, "Of course you and me." I gave him a look of I know and he sighed. "How did you know?"

"I'm not telling you, you'd destroy it to keep it a secret."

"No, that was just so you couldn't use it against me then; now it doesn't matter." At that moment, people started to use the halls again and Dark transformed back into Krad.

Glad I wasn't alone I returned to my rooms with a new sense of hope. I took the warlin leaves and sembal nuts from my pack and made the sintra potion thinking I wouldn't need it. I stood in my room not knowing what to do now. It was almost so dark you couldn't see much outside so I decided to go to sleep.

_Platypus bears and moose lions are from Avatar: The Last Airbender. All the reagents were just random names and if there are real plants with those names there is no relation. I'm going insane here (not that I was ever sane), Nemo by Nightwish is running through my head over and over again. It's a good song but I want it out; it's impeding my writing. I'm trying to drag it to 26 chapters 'cuz most animes I watch have that many episodes. I know it's too many more chapters to write so I may not reach my goal._


	23. Preparations

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 23

I woke up to the scary sight of servants staring me down. I jumped and fell out of the bed. "What the heck is going on?!"

"The wedding; we were sent to help you prepare. Now the dress was finished last night and might I say it is beautiful." The servants moved so I could see the dress.

I whimpered a little, _No, it's frilly! Please someone burn it, BURN IT! _Another servant asked, "Are you okay miss?"

"I'll be fine," I sighed, staring with a disgusted look at the dress. "How long until the wedding?"

"It is at sunset, right now it's sunrise."

"Why wake me up at sunrise? Why not noon?"

"So you have enough time to bath and dry, dress, and eat. We don't want you to faint at your own wedding." I got up and walked to the lavatory and shortly after I finished my business there I was dressed in morning clothes and sent to the main hall for breakfast.

Satoshi was sitting at the table and I wondered if he was really Daisuke, _Can't really find out now can we? _I sat next to Tukuno and ate without much heart. Pontel eventually came in and sat next to me causing me to stop eating and get up. Snagging a roll and an apple I left.

I ran to the stables and quickly pulled into Nashiki's stall. She crossed the small distance between us and shoved her nose into my hand, the one with the apple. Looking at the wall, there was no tack on the wall, only lighter spots where the tack had been hanging. _Hah, still can't trust me._

I opened the gate at the back of the stall and let Nashiki out. With that done I went back to the castle and was shocked to find Tukuno in my room holding a vile of liquid. _Crap!_

"It- It's not what it looks like it is." I stuttered looking at the bottle.

"Then what is this? Not a sintra potion like Pashen said?"

_Pashen! That jerk sold me out. _

"You haven't taken a sip have you?"

"No. I didn't have time and besides I would have only drunk it if I knew that there was no hope left." _Don't notice the fact that it's got a small bit missing. _

"Well then, I will see you in another half a day." True enough it was noon.

"Goodbye, Father." I said 'father' with a bit of sickness and anger fixed into it.

By then new maids had come into the room and were dragging me off to get clean for the wedding after being in the stables.

With me nice and clean they started to style my hair. As they pulled and forced it into a pretty, princessy style all that I could think was… _hatethishatethishatethishatethis…_

_Sorry short chapter but I'm about to start the next, besides I didn't want the preparations and the wedding in the same chapter and I've given up my dream of having 26 chapters 'cuz I think I might go over it._


	24. Too Confused for Title

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 24

The maids sent me to my room to let my hair set into the style while they finished their chores. Dark disguised as Krad came to my room to ask how well I was doing. I sent him away quickly; right now all I wanted was peace and quiet. I went over to the window and opened it wide enough to fit through and took a deep breath...

An hour later the maids returned to put me into the dress. "Only an hour left, now we must proceed to the chapel."

"Yes ma'am."

"Might I say that was an unusual response from you under the circumstances."

"Yes ma'am."

"Very well, let me not question you now. Let us go."

"Yes ma'am." The maid looked back and gave an odd look.

We walked to the chapel and I immediately sat on a bench. The maids looked at me as if it was an alien they were with instead of me. They started to talk in hushed voices about their work in the palace and how odd I was acting.

After waiting a half hour wedding bells began to ring. I was ushered to a room that no one would see me as they went into the main part of the church.

People filed into the church slowly but surely. Eventually the flow of people stopped and Pontel walked into the main room to stand by the priest. Then the musicians started to play the wedding march. The maids opened the door and moved out of the way so I could walk in.

I heard people gasp when they saw me dressed as I was. Some people who knew I hated frills ducked and hid in their seats. Others more brave sat tall facing forward. I reached the alter and Pontel kissed me lightly on the cheek. "I wish to save your lips for our marriage."

The audience was shocked to see me not shudder. The wedding went according to plan until the vows.

As we were about to finish a voice from nowhere said, "Leave her alone."

The crowd looked up at once to see a boy hanging by his feet from the ceiling. "Sasuke," I gasped. He jumped down and came up to us. "Sasuke, you came," My senses returned to me, "Get out of here I can handle this myself!"

"No, you can't. If you could, the Tsara I know would have gotten out of here by now."

"Maybe I have already!" The crowd gasped as one.

Pontel stepped forward and yelled, "Guards seize this man! Tsaralan my dear I don't know what you've done but I will not let you go!" He gripped my arm hard enough that it hurt. In a puff of smoke the doppelganger potion wore off.

-

I rode through the woods bareback on Nashiki. Something clicked in my mind as the doppelganger potion gave me reports from the clone. "Sasuke…" I pulled back on the reins so hard that Nashiki reared up. "I'm sorry but we need to go back."

Nashiki huffed her anger and then turned and ran back to the castle.

Her hooves clicked on the cobblestones of the streets as I sent her away from her usual return spot in the pastures to the church.

The church was now in my sights. Nashiki flew over the stairs in one leap and we burst through the doors of the church. I slid off of Nashiki swiftly and ran to the alter. Pontel jumped up and grabbed me tightly again and was satisfied when I didn't disappear like the last time.

"Hello."

"Where's Sasuke?!"

"He's been taken away and the wedding postponed so you can see him die."

"What?!"

"Yes, now if you'll come with me I'm sure we can go with your father to see him be poisoned." I could feel tears starting to sting my eyes as he spoke. Tiles on the floor started to shake in their spots, and the crowd knew what was going to happen. They left the church as quickly as I had burst through. "I recommend you stop now."

"No, not after everything I've gone through."

"Maybe this will change your mind." Pontel bent forward and kissed my lips which would have met him his doom if he hadn't been engulfed by a cloud of smoke.

The smoke cleared with great speed, "Sasuke!" I jumped and hugged him tightly. "How, when, why?"

"Ha, you think I would be dumb enough to get caught?"

I pulled him along to Nashiki and we mounted. Seeing her sweat soaked coat I spoke to her as always, "C'mon baby. Just hang in there until the river." She sighed and went on without any more complaint.

-

"Let me go!" Sasuke yelled as he was dragged into a small cell and chained to a wall.

"Relax shrimp, you won't have long to wait." A guard told him.

After some struggling on the wall and a few failed jutsus Sasuke settled onto the wall.

Some minutes later Tukuno entered with a small vial. "Drink up." He shoved the bottle up to Sasuke's mouth and forced him to drink. "That's a sintra potion by the way, one of the most deadly potions, compliments of my daughter Tsaralan."

Sasuke looked up shock in his eyes. _She would really make a potion to kill me?_ "…"

"Come again?"

"I said: Her name is Tsara not that stupid Tsaralan."

"She was Tsaralan far before she was your Tsara. Now I take my leave."

-

"Finally, we made it to the river." I said as I slid off Nashiki with Sasuke still clinging to my waist. "You can let go now. You've never been this clingy."

"Sorry. I just missed you so much." _Ok, after a big fight over lying you're fine now. Something is definitely wrong._

"Sasuke you all right?"

"Yes, I've never been better. C'mon Tsaralan let's get going." He started to walk forward but I was frozen in my spot. _What? Sasuke never called me Tsaralan. By now he would know I chose Tsara over Tsaralan._

"Who? Who are you?"

Sasuke gave me a dumb look and said, "What do you mean Tsaralan? I'm Sarsuke."

_Ok that's pushing the limit, this idiot has no idea who he is supposed to be acting like._ "What_ever_ you say… Sarsuke." He was about to get back onto Nashiki but just as he was on, she reared and threw him off into the river. "First, she doesn't like people I don't like, second, she's too tired to go any further, and third, that has to be the worst _Sasuke_ act I've ever seen and I mean, I've seen Naruto's act."

The Sasuke started to blush and changed in a smoke screen. _Of course._ Pontel sat soaked in the river. "I kinda guessed I was doing badly at the fact that you stopped in your tracks."

"Yeah, well where's Sasuke?"

"He's been locked up and probably will be dead anytime now."

"What do you mean?"

"Your father was going to give anyone who tried to interfere with the wedding the sintra potion you made."

_Oh thank god. _I didn't show my relief but acted angry yet upset. "Why?" Forcing false tears out I continued, "Why is this so important?"

"Our countries will stand tall and conquer all who oppose us. We'll be the strongest force ever."

"Yeah so what? That won't matter when a rebellion pops up in one city. And even then when we push it down another would rise again soon enough."

"What makes you so sure that a rebellion will happen?"

"I would create one and make sure it stays strong."

"You know after the marriage, we, as in the two lands, would be bound together and it wouldn't matter what would happen to us. I could erase you from existence now if I wanted. Your father would offer up another sibling." I did have other sisters but they were at other lands with other parts of the family and still they were too young for a marriage to someone.

"I dare you to try. Go ahead hit me with your best shot, that is if you even can." I gave him a smirk as he charged out of the water and at me. The moment he charged up for a punch, I jumped into the air and onto a nearby branch.

_Sorry I cut you off with a kinda sorta cliffhanger but I'm unbelievably busy tonight and so I'll give you what I have and continue later. Forgive this chapter I know it's a little confusing with all the jumping around and multiple versions of people but I am a very confusing person in life so get used to it. Sayonara! _


	25. Reunion

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 25

Besides the running of the river, the sound of shoes sliding on bark was all that you could hear in the small clearing. Pontel was desperately trying to climb up the tall tree I sat in. It was pretty comical to watch what appears as a stuck up prince (almost put pirate ha!) turn into a horrible mess of anger.

"Give up any time now."

"Never! I'm going to pull you by the heel down that tree and end this nightmare!"

"That is if you can get up in the first place." I giggled audibly which was followed by an odd silence. "How come you could turn into Sasuke?"

"Magic."

"Why not use magic to get up here then?" He sat there in complete and utter frustration. Finally, he started to move again but away from the tree. Pontel went to the river and jumped in. I could see bubbles rising to the top quickly. _Is he trying to drown himself? _Something caught my attention. I could here a slight sound coming from where Pontel sat in the rushing water. _Ha, he's screaming but is too proud to do it at normal hearing. _He came up briskly to get more air and then continued.

When he came up again he didn't continue. Over his anger at the obvious solution, he walked back and started to cast a levitation spell. As he lifted off the ground I stared at him.

"What's that look for?"

"Nothing." He was picking up speed and getting higher. When Pontel reached my level, he reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Something's up; you're not resisting."

"Yup! But you'll never know why until it happens." I said with a giggle. We fell down to the ground as Pontel released the spell. He dragged me over to the water and pushed my head under. Entertaining him, I writhed under his grasp, but after about thirty seconds I stopped moving. Pontel let go and stepped back. A puff of smoke encircled the clone and it disappeared.

"I see." Pontel started the long run back to the city with Nashiki following.

-

"I wonder when it'll kick in." Sasuke's voice echoed in the small cell.

"Who knows?" A voice came from nowhere.

"Huh? Whose there?"

"You."

"What?"

"I'm you."

"How can you be me?"

"Did you drink anything? Some bad water or a potion?"

"N- Wait. They did force some vile liquid down my throat."

"Who made it?"

"Tsara."

"Yeah. So… You want help?"

"With what?"

"Getting down from there or even out of here."

"I can take care of myself."

"Kay." Another Sasuke jumped out of the real Sasuke and started to unlock the chains from the real Sasuke.

"Wha- Who- How?"

"That stuff they made you drink was really a potion to make a copy of yourself. Tsara made it so she could escape the wedding, but then you showed up and ruined the plans."

"How did she escape?"

"While the fake was in her place at the palace waiting for the maids to take her to the wedding she went out the window. Then she went to the fields and took the only horse out of the meadow and went on her way."

"One last question: How do you know all this?" Sasuke asked as he landed feet first on the ground.

"Well, potions tend to create a bond with their creator so anything made by the potion knows what's going on."

"I know I said last question but… Do you know where Tsara is?"

"Yeah." He disappeared in a cloud of smoke and when it cleared there stood Tsara.

-

After putting a shadow clone in my place at the river, I ran for the palace to get to the prison underneath. Tukuno hid it underground so Sara wouldn't get upset over having 'poor innocent souls' locked up.

In the main hall I pulled down the corner of a painting and then pulled it towards me. I turned the hidden doorknob and went into the new room. The walls were lined with hundreds of small crystals. "Second crystal to the right." I went to the right side of the room and yanked on the correct crystal to open the next door. "Had to hide it so well. Jeez, if I ever inherit this place I'm going to relocate this prison."

After a few more hidden locks and doors, I reached the iron door to the prisons. I pressed my ear against the door and heard someone talking. "-tions tend to create a bond with their creator…" I leaned back and started to remove the locks. The door was heavy but easy to move. I pushed it open and stepped in to see a small cloud in the middle of the dank room.

When it cleared I jumped with relief. "Sasuke!" He seemed angry yet at the same time too happy to comprehend.

"Oi, what's up?"

"Doofus!" I ran to hug him and tackled him to the ground. "You should have known I could take care of it!"

He flipped us, putting me underneath, "Yeah, well, you're dumb." I giggled and hugged him again in the awkward position.

"C'mon we gotta get outta here."

"Wow, real princess-y talk."

"Ha-ha, yeah, I'm embracing that side of my life. Now let's go!" I pushed him off and grabbed his wrist to pull him along until we got to the door that was opened with the crystal. "Wait here." I whispered at him. I crawled out and scurried like a beetle to the next exit… There were voices on the other side. I went back to Sasuke who was sitting peacefully with his back on the wall. "We gotta use another entrance; follow me."

We backtracked until we were almost at the prison's door. "Why'd we come back here?"

"There's another exit down here but it's hardly used anymore and I don't like it." I said feeling along the cracks in the wall.

"Why?"

"Ever been in a sewer?"

"A couple of desperate times for missions but still yes."

"Take all of the sewers you've been in and combine them, then multiply that by about ten times; this is worse than even that."

"Oh." I found the entrance and the stench swept over me and caused me to gag. Sasuke stepped forward and sniffed the air, "It's not as bad as you say." He looked at me and saw I was in pain, "Why is it so bad for you?"

"I dunno; maybe it's the heightened senses from the ears and tail.

"Where are your ears and tail?"

I looked at my back… No tail. I touched invisible ears on my head. "S'ok." I released the spell hiding them and pushed forward into the tunnel trying my best not to get sick.

As we walked on a path next to what I think was water Sasuke asked, "Hey Tsara?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you still wearing that?"

"Wearing what?"

"_That_!" He said pointing at the now torn up wedding dress.

"I really don't know. I would have changed if I had had the time but with all of this I guess we don't really have time." A scaled back slid through the water as we walked and Sasuke pushed closer to the wall. "Relax," I said to Sasuke. To the water I spoke, "Funny, funny Mauler. Anything else you want to do to make us more miserable?" The water rippled and a big tail lifted up and came back down, splashing me and not Sasuke with the could be water. I stomped and light flicked into my eyes. The possible water shifted around and the tunnel cooled drastically. Some of the water was starting to freeze when a giant alligator crawled out.

It snorted an answer, "You should respect those who are older."

"Yeah, yeah I hardly respect any of my elders here, only those in my home."

"But is this not your home?"

"Not at all; my home is in the village hidden in the leaves."

"I see. Do you wish to escape to the upper levels?"

"Not yet, I want to come out in the woods."

"Then you know you are going the wrong way?"

"O-of course."

"Yes, of course, indeed. I shall take you there young one, as well as your friend."

"Really?! Oh, thank you Mauler!" I heated the water back to normal and let Mauler slide up to us in the water. We sat gently on her back and rode up to the spot in the woods. "Thank you Mauler; I will return someday to help you somehow."

We made our way through the woods and walked out into an open field lined and filled with soldiers. At the head of the company were Tukuno and Sara.

Sara was hysterical, "Why did you do this you commoner!? My favorite daughter's wedding is now ruined and it's your entire fault!"

"He didn't ruin it Sara!"

She gasped and continued, "How dare you refer to me like that! You are to call me mother! And look at you! You're filthy!"

She continued on so quickly that I was surprised she was still breathing. I started to get annoyed and eventually yelled, "That's it! Shut up you old hag!" She gasped and was about to say more but I stopped her and continued with my rant. "My life has been miserable because of you! I had to waste my childhood studying magic so I could hide a secret from you! Everyone's been protecting you for too long you should know the truth and accept it, if not I'll make your life from here on out more miserable than mine has ever been. You should have just sent me away and then forget about then." I put my hands on the ears and ran up so she could see.

She screamed and stuttered, "Wh-who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm your favorite daughter, _Tsaralan_." I spat out the last word.

Again she screamed, and Pontel ran forward to help her. I gave a slight smirk and snapped my fingers. Magic flowed out of my hand unnoticed up to Pontel's head. Sara looked up and screamed one more time before fainting. Pontel looked around as I chuckled loudly and everyone else stared.

"What? What is wrong?" I pointed at my ears and then at him. He reached up and touched magical ears. "Get these hideous things off of me!"

"Aww c'mon I think they're adorable… On me!" He charged but that was a big no-no. No matter what you don't attack a child of the crown in the middle of a field swarming with the royal guard. Before he knew what had happened he was surrounded by spears and swords along with the men on horses who carried them. Pontel was immediately taken to the hidden prisons and to be prepared for expulsion from the country.

"My daughter, the kingdom is in chaos because of you. There is no containing you and so I must let you do what you must. Run off to distant lands and neither I nor my people will stop you. I grant you my blessings for whatever it is that you wish to do. Just remember you are always welcome here." For the first time, I ran over and hugged Tukuno upon my own will.

"Thank you," I whimpered as tears rolled down my face. "I'll come here whenever need be without any regrets."

"And you, boy." Sasuke looked up. "Take care of her or else I will send everyone in this land to hunt you down, but never the less good luck when the appropriate time comes."

-

The next day Sasuke led the way back to the village. When we arrived, Naruto tackled the both of us somehow at once and dragged us to the ramen shop saying, "You guys owe me."

Once we bought Naruto his ramen we excused ourselves and went back to our apartments. Sasuke walked me back up to the door and watched me find the right key and put it in the lock. I turned the key and opened the door. He pulled me close and kissed me and pushed me inside when he finished. Sasuke pulled the key out of the lock and handed it to me.

"G'night." I said in a whisper of exhaustion.

"Yeah." I closed the door and went to my room for a long night of sleep.

_It's almost done… I'll miss you guys so much, waaaah! There's one or two more chapters after this so don't stop reading just yet._


	26. The End!

The Diary of Tsara Shikamuno: 26

I awoke with a strange urge to go out today. The stress from the earlier day's adventure had evaporated as I gathered materials for a new day. "I think I'll go see Sage."

I went into the main room and slunk to the door since Naruto's door was wide open with the lump half under, half above the covers. The front door creaked loudly as I opened it and I cringed thinking Naruto would wake up and stop me. If that happened he would make me sleep and rest some more. I moved slowly and looked into his room, "RAMEN!" He shifted slightly and fell back asleep.

"Whew." The door was open enough to slip through and I didn't want to risk him waking so I threw my pack through and followed it. I picked up the pack and ran down the steps. "Yes! It's a new day, let's go!" I flew down the streets and out of the entrance of the village.

I pushed my way to the peninsula and waited for Taki. "Oi, Tsara you again."

"Yup. Mind giving me a lift."

"Na'ah all." I fell asleep on the way and Taki had to wake me when we arrived.

"Thanks Taki. I probably won't head back for a few days." I started to leave but then I remembered something, "If Naruto, Sakura, or Kakashi come looking for me, I'm not here. Hint hint." I ran straight for the clearing hoping, as always, that Sage would be there.

I arrived and ran silently to Sage from behind and that's when I struck. Pouncing with restrained force, I tackled her then lifted her up and flipped her. "Tsara! What are you doing here?"

"I got bored and so I thought I'd come and bug you. Besides last time I hardly got to see you and play."

"Yay! Let's go then!" Sage gripped my wrist and pulled me along to a river. "On the count of three we jump in."

"Kay."

"One… Two… Thr-what's that?!" I turned to where she pointed and found her jumping into me and pushing me in. Before I fell into the water I grabbed her arm and pulled her in after me.

We came up together and I said, "That's it Sage, come here."

"No way!" She started to head for shore but I stopped her.

"Too late for escape!" I jumped and made a big splash as I went under again. From underneath I grabbed her ankles and started to swim keeping her above the water but still dragging her. After about a minute or two I came up and was gasping for breath. Sage was laughing so hard she could hardly stay above the water let alone fight the river's current.

I went under again and came up next to Sage to hold her still in the water. "Back to shore, please." I obeyed and swam back to the river bank with Sage holding on to my shoulders while sitting on my back. When we reached land we sat for a minute and then Sage shot up. "I know where we can dry off and still play."

"Where?"

"Follow me." She helped me up and then we ran again. This time it was a large sunlit field. There were a few large trees and a small pond at that was all on this large span of healthy green grass. "Well, what do you think of my home?"

"You live here?"

"Yup, I have always lived here since my parents died."

We stood in silence looking around and making pointless comments until Sage said, "Well, you came to play and I brought you here to do so, so let's play!" She ran at me to tackle me but I was caught off-guard and was pushed to the ground with a soft thud. "Not so tough are you?"

I stood up and brushed the dust off. "I'm just like a fragile kitten, I can't defend myself." I started to reach out to touch her shoulder and when I got to her I shouted, "Tag! You're it!"

"No!" She started to chase me and we played like this for some time until we both fell breathless onto the ground. "That… was… fun…"

"… Uh…Huh…" A loud crack came from one of the trees and a blast of light headed straight for me. Mustering up what little strength I had after our game I jumped up, barely dodging the attack, but hit the ground on my feet and fell onto my knees due to the impact. "What was that?"

"Long time, no see Tsaralan." Krad jumped out of the tree holding the white feather I knew not to trust.

"Wish it could have lasted longer."

"Well, I'm only here to take your powers and then use them to kill you so they can't return."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"I see you're still wearing that necklace Satoshi gave you."

"Don't change the subject!"

"It has everything to do with what's going on."

"H-how? How is it important?"

"You'll see." He held out the feather and I transformed some of my chakra, which was never used in the games with Sage, into physical energy. Using the new energy I got up and started to run around behind him to get to Sage and keep her safe. Just as I reached Sage, the spell Krad was casting was finished and the charge came around behind him and locked onto the red crystal around my neck.

I was sent flying into one of the few trees in the field. I could feel both my magic and chakra stores being drained through the small gem and into the feather through which it went to Krad. I couldn't move only watch as my life was slipping out of my grasp and into Krad's.

Thankfully luck was on my side. Sage jumped up and started to kick Krad in the shins and scream loud enough to interrupt the spell. To save energy, he gathered what little bit of my powers that were in the air and then used that to make a clone of himself to hold her off. Before he turned back to me I managed to get up and hide behind the tree.

"Oh well, I'll just have some fun with this pest," Krad said louder than he really needed to so he could get my attention.

I still had enough power for the one spell that could turn this all around. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and started the spell. After a long seeming three seconds I had finished the spell, "Rejuvenation!" New, fresh magic poured into my veins as I stepped around the tree to see Krad holding a blast with the feather.

Sage was crying. She wasn't hurt but the fear was enough to start a flow of tears. "Better step off, bud."

"Hah, made some more for me to take. Thanks."

"It's not for you, well, technically it kind of is but that isn't the point." I pulled the new powers and made a strong blast. I loosed it and Krad easily hopped over it and let it fly behind him without a second guess. "Look behind you," I said with a smirk.

The blast came back and Krad jumped again. And again… and again… and again. "It's not going to stop, just get hit."

"Never!" Krad ran at me and jumped over my head. He held me in place to keep me from dodging the shot, not that I would have. The blast was heading straight for me but just before I was hit it went over my head and got Krad instead.

There was a smoke cloud that stayed briefly. Since it was my magic I wasn't hit by the aftershock that came from the impact. I was lucky he didn't hide behind Sage because she might have gotten seriously hurt if he had.

The smoke cleared but Krad was gone. _Where is he? I know! If I was in his position, I'd go up. _Sure enough when I looked above he was there but he was casting the spell again.

With Sage still being held, she couldn't disturb him like last time. I was going to get caught. I started a chain of magic and tried to finish it before him to defend myself from the oncoming drain. He finished a second too early and I was pinned against a tree again.

The newly made powers were being sucked away again. I started to lose consciousness but I fought it off.

We stayed like this for a few minutes until Krad said, "My you have a lot of magic."

"Yeah… Well… it…. comes… in… handy…" I was exhausted after struggling to keep a grip on some powers.

"We're almost done so just kick back and let me finish."

"You're… the… one… who… said… something… first!" It was getting harder to speak and I could feel unconsciousness start to creep towards me again.

"Tsara! You can't let him do this; fight him off!" Sage started to struggle but to no avail.

"Sorry…" I couldn't hold on much longer.

Before I could see who or what had hit Krad he was up in the air with the power-stealing spell broken. The person who had done this stood protectively in front of me. "You alive back there?"

"Yeah." Whoever it was they turned around.

"I'm glad you told Taki to stop the others but not me." It was Sasuke! (Need I even tell you?) "You know since you disappeared this morning we thought you had been taken again. The entire village is on a hunt to find you."

"Only… seems natural. People need something to worry about; why not something new?" My physical energy was starting to return and I used the tree as a crutch to stand. I stood with my back to the tree to start the rejuvenation spell again. "Mind keeping him off for a sec?"

"Not at all." He jumped up and lion's barraged Krad to the ground to stop him from completing the spell once again.

"Rejuvenation!" My body was recharged after a new dose of magic was given to me. "Sasuke catch!" I gathered a ball of energy and gave it to him for stronger attacks.

"Thanks." He stopped to punch Krad for a while and then continued to talk, "Dark's going to be here soon to take this guy off. I'm just the distraction until he can seal him away."

I sat down and watched with great amusement as Sasuke pummeled Krad. A 'poof' caught my attention as Krad's clone disappeared and Sage was free. I motioned for her to come over to my spot under the tree. We sat and watched until I noticed Sasuke was starting to slow.

_My magic is starting to wear off. _"Sasuke come here and I'll take a turn."

"…Fine, just power yourself up before jumping in."

I did as told and then let Sasuke out of the pummeling of Krad. Eventually Dark came to Krad's rescue and we sat around the field for a while.

"Tsara…" Sasuke said after sometime.

"Yeah?"

"I… was really worried when you went missing again."

"…Sorry, I promise to tell you before I go somewhere."

"No, that would be too much trouble so I got Dark to make this for you and me to track each other."

"What is it?" He held up a chain with another one of the trinkets. This time it was green with the thing that held it in place whirling around it to stop around the front.

"Dark told me you have two of these already so you know how to use it, but I had to take the non-magic user's class." I giggled, wincing as the after effects of the rejuvenation started to kick in. "You gonna be okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm just tired that's all."

"Let me put this on you so I know you won't get lost from now until we go home." He tried to put it on by my hair kept getting in the way. Sage came over to hold it up while he linked the chain around my neck.

"Great now I'm starting to feel like a princess again."

"So you are royalty! You won't tell anyone about my knowing the song will you?"

"Hah, I would never do anything like that to my friends." Seeing the look on Sasuke's face I could tell he had something to say but with Sage here he couldn't speak about it. "Hey Sage, would you go get some water from the river?"

"Sure thing your highness." With a small curtsey she ran towards the river.

"So what is it Sasuke."

He took my hands up in his and started to tell me what was on his mind, "I… I love you Tsara. Ever since I first time saw you my life has been different. Tsara, will you promise to stay by my side?"

I could feel a blush appearing on my face, "As much as I'd like to say yes right now… Maybe in a few years. I just think… We should learn to love each other more before we get to that point. But it still will always be a yes. Just not yet."

"O-of course, someday in the future. Until then I'll keep trying to get you to say yes to now."

"I'll look forward to each day to see what you do."

"I'll have to come up with something remarkable for each day then." After he said this he held me close while kissing me.

_**The End!**_

_Personally, I feel this was kind of a let down as a climactic ending but I had nothing better to offer. I also think this is a little corny at the end please forgive that. For those who are interested I have a picture of what Tsara should look like on my xanga. If you don't know how to get there, type in your search bar and then hit profiles and put in Death2Lee. Or you could put in the main search bar Both ways should more or less get you there. Thank you all my readers who have put up with me up to this point. Arigato!_


	27. Notice

Hey, you haven't heard from me for a while, I know, but I thought some would like to know I'm writing a sequel to the original Diary of Tsara Shikamuno. I already have a few chapters up, and there's more to come. It's called Tokyo TDOTS for those who want to search for it using the engine, and of course it's under my list of stories. I hope you'll all enjoy it as much as the original.

Thank you all again for reading this story to the very end!


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